With 91% of the population now covered by some form of health insurance, and the coverage rate higher in some states, the next big debate in health policy could be about the adequacy of coverage. That particularly means rising payments for deductibles and their impact on family budgets and access to care. This is about not just Obamacare but also the many more people who get insurance through an employer.
It’s not clear whether deductibles will continue to rise as they have over the past decade. Rising cost-sharing is not employers’ preferred strategy for containing health costs, but it’s the one they resort to when they need to quickly reduce their annual premium increase. If the economy weakens again employers will feel greater pressure to reduce their health-benefits costs, and the trend toward higher deductibles will be more likely to continue. The question of how much cost-sharing is too much, and what to do about it, could be the next big debate in health care–once the political world moves on from its focus on the ACA.
