Traditional commercial health plans might soon face increasing competition from local hospital-sponsored insurance plans and other alternative payers, research from Valence Health has found.
Slightly more than one third of Americans are open to trying insurance plans offered through hospitals, health systems or state-run consumer-oriented and operated plans (CO-OPs), according to the survey of 550 respondents.
Consumers who responded to the Valence survey said they were attracted by the possibility of better benefits, lower cost and more coordinated care.
And 23 percent of those responding thought hospital-sponsored plans might be less expensive and higher quality than traditional commercial insurance plans, while 39 percent believed that provider-sponsored plans would offer more coordinated care than other plan.
Even if just 5 percent of insured Americans actually try a new insurance option, that switch translates to nearly 10 million people and $20 billion in healthcare spending, the report said.
"We are talking about creating a huge monetary shift in the industry," said Kevin Weinstein, Valence Health chief marketing officer, in a news release and the report. "Consumers are open and ready to try smaller, local systems, not only because it's potentially easier on the wallet, but also because they perceive it to be more convenient and may lead to better overall patient healthcare outcomes."
Health insurance choice is driven more by plan benefits and price than physician choice, and the top plan priorities for consumers were for coverage of emergency room visits and hospital stays, the report found.
Additionally, 43 percent said they were at least somewhat likely to consider switching to a CO-OP.
However, 39 percent said they unlikely to use online insurance exchanges, preferring insurance through employers. Almost 60 percent of the respondents obtained their coverage through their employers.
Less than 10 percent were willing to accept salary increases or other payments to purchase health insurance on their own. A majority thought that insurance rates would rise due to health reform, even though a majority of the respondents supported the Affordable Care Act.
Consumers are taking a greater role in their health care and they want more options, but they also need more education about what is available to them under healthcare reform.
Most of the respondents indicated that they were satisfied with their insurer, but 26 percent of them did not even know if their premium had increased, the report said.