The Times is publishing a series of stories examining the steep run-up in health insurance deductibles over the last decade and the effect this is having on American patients. This healthcare revolution has been largely overshadowed by the fierce political fight over the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. But it has affected many more people and is pushing increasing numbers of American families to the breaking point, stoking an affordability crisis. The series draws on a nationwide survey of Americans with job-based coverage undertaken in partnership with the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation, or KFF, as well as original research conducted with the Health Care Cost Institute and the Employee Benefit Research Institute, two Washington, D.C.,-based think tanks.
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Despite rising deductibles, Americans still can’t shop for medical care. -
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People in other wealthy countries find Americans’ health insurance deductibles hard to understand.
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Medical charities and crowd-funding have long helped fill the gaps for Americans who lack health coverage. Increasingly now, charity has also become a lifeline for Americans who have insurance but still can’t pay their bills — a result of a revolution in health insurance that has seen deductibles more than triple.
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Middle-class Americans are bearing the brunt of the rise in health insurance deductibles and medical bills. That’s helped widen political divisions.Middle-class Americans are bearing the brunt of the rise in health insurance deductibles and medical bills. That’s helped widen political divisions.
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Wendy Matney hesitated to tell her family not to call 911.
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Soaring deductibles and medical bills are pushing millions of American families to the breaking point, fueling an affordability crisis that is pulling in middle-class households with health insurance as well as the poor and uninsured.
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Clarisa Corber hopes someday to get medication for depression and acne.
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Healthcare costs have been an issue for decades.
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Skyrocketing health insurance deductibles have transformed job-based health insurance in the U.S. over the last decade, leaving many Americans with unaffordable medical bills and forcing many to postpone medical care, cut back on essentials such as food and housing and make other difficult sacrifices.
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10The Los Angeles Times/Kaiser Family Foundation survey of adults with employer-sponsored health insurance is based on interviews with a probability-based sample of 1,407 respondents between the ages of 18 and 64 who reported having health insurance from an employer or union (excluding those covered by a parent’s employer).
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11This project draws on an extensive review of surveys and studies of health insurance in the U.S., original polling and interviews with scores of doctors, business leaders, researchers and Americans who have high-deductible health plans.
