I cannot believe that we needed to conduct a study in order to know that individuals who understand their health insurance coverage requirements, will make better choices about seeking medical services. The Boston Herald recently published the findings of just such a study. What was found was that individuals who knew what their co-payments were for medical services were more cost-conscious when deciding when to seek those medical services. These individuals were considered “savy.”
I don’t call it being savy. I call it using common sense. If you know that each emergency room visit is going to require you to pay $250 out of your pocket versus $25 for each physician office visit, common sense says that you will visit your physician and not the hospital emergency department.