Is VBID gaining a foothold?

The answer is maybe.  Value-based insurance design ties patient cost sharing to the notion of a treatment’s value.  Higher value treatments have lower cost sharing; lower value treatments have higher cost sharing.  The Incidental Economist writes: In his own practice, Dr. Fendrick feels as if standard insurance is working against him and his patients. “They are deeply…

Interpreting evidence on value

Value is the latest jargon to hit the health care sector.  One potential way value could manifest itself is through value-based insurance design (VBID).  Under VBID, patients would pay lower copayments for treatments that are highly effective and/or low cost would pay higher payments for treatments that have low effectiveness or high cost to the…

VBID in TRICARE

Value-based insurance design looks to be expanding. As the American Journal of Managed Care reports: The bill calls for a pilot demonstrating the feasibility of incorporating VBID by “reducing co-payments or cost shares for targeted populations of covered beneficiaries in the receipt of high-value medications and services and the use of high-value providers” no later…

VBID comes to Medicare Advantage

CMS announced last week that they are extending their value-based insurance design (VBID) program to more states and more patients.  I describe VBID and the proposed changes below. What is VBID? Value-Based Insurance Design (VBID) generally refers to health insurers’ efforts to structure enrollee cost sharing and other health plan design elements to encourage enrollees…

VBID in practice

In a typical insurance plan, patients have a fixed copayment, insurance and deductible regardless of whether the treatment they receive is considered high or low value.  However, an alternative insurance structure–known as value-based insurance design (VBID)–uses a different approach.  Under VBID, patient cost sharing is higher for low-value treatments and lower or eliminated for high-value…

Can reducing cost sharing save money?

Typically, economists believe that subsidizing goods or services increases utilization and the total amount of funds spent on a good. The RAND Health Insurance Experiment (HIE) proved that lowering cost sharing increases total spending on medical goods. Although reducing cost sharing on all medical care is likely to increase total healthcare spending, subsidizing highly effective therapies can actually…