Pete Stark apparently resides in an alternate reality. There is no other explanation, beyond sheer mendacity, for the op-ed he recently wrote for The Hill. The piece contains so many erroneous assertions that no single blog post can address them all, so I’ll focus on the following representative passage:
Shifting more cost and responsibility to the consumer as a strategy for reform or cost-containment is useless.
This is, of course, an allusion to consumer-driven health care. Stark’s assertion is refuted by every serious study of patient behavior in cost sharing situations, including this one which showed that high deductible plans reduce expensive ER utilization for minor complaints:
Traditional health plan members who switched to high-deductible coverage visited the emergency department less frequently than controls, with reductions occurring primarily in repeat visits for conditions that were not classified as high severity …
Visits to the ER for minor illnesses constitute a significant driver of health care inflation. So, anything that reduces such visits will be far from “useless” as a cost-containment measure. And, contrary to claims made by enemies of the free market, high deductible plans have no effect on ER utilization for real emergencies:
HDHPs may be associated with reduced overall emergency department utilization without significantly affecting the highest-severity visits.
So, Stark either lives in a fantasy world or he’s a profoundly dishonest man. Either way, as the chairman of the Health Subcommittee on the Ways and Means Committee (in the House of Representatives), he exerts a very unhealthy influence on national health care policy.
Comments 3
I’m too layzee to look it up, but a doctor told me that even an enforced $5 Medicaid co-pay for non-emergency visits significantly reduces ER use based on studies done…Some states have varying co-pays like $3 or $5 or whatever. One thing is that “severe” pain counts as a valid reason for an emergency dept visit. Maybe that’s why Medicaid patients always have 15/10 pain.
Beggars can’t be choosers, and few people need to go to the ER for anything in any given year, let alone monthly or weekly for various non-emergent crap, so a co-pay is very reasonable!!! I think $5 is too little for a non-emergency complaint, but whatever. It should at least be equal to the cost of a month’s worth of generic cigarettes.
Posted 06 Jun 2008 at 1:53 pm ¶The good doctor is right. In my state, the Caid co-pay is only $3, but when you make them actually pay it, the frequent flyers suddenly develop an afinity for the ER down the road.
Posted 06 Jun 2008 at 6:50 pm ¶We don’t even take anyone’s money in the ER if they ask to pay their co-pay. We have no credit card machines nor cash register. *Sigh*
Posted 07 Jun 2008 at 11:49 am ¶Post a Comment