“Skin in the game.” The phrase pops up frequently in health insurance discussions, as it did twice in the recent Charlotte Observer article about high deductible policies (“A Growing Risk: High Deductible Health Plans Can Ruin Finances,” April 9).
In finance, the phrase refers to high-level executives investing their own money in stock in their company, so that they have a stake in its performance.
In health care, it refers to “consumers” having financial responsibility – in the form of high deductibles and co-pays in their insurance plans – for their health care so that they will be “smarter shoppers.” This raises a number of questions.
What problem is it solving?
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Does it save money? And, if so, for whom?
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Are patients the major drivers of excessive procedures?
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Is this how we want medical decisions made?
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Whom is insurance supposed to protect, anyway?
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