A recent Washington Post article http://www.washingtonpost.com * noted ”You just might want to pay attention to the latest health insurance jargon. It could mean thousands of dollars out of your pocket. It lets insurers and employers put a dollar limit on what health plans pay for some expensive procedures, such as knee and hip replacements.”
“Some experts worry that patients could be surprised with big medical bills they must pay themselves, undercutting financial protections in the new health care law. That would happen if patients picked a more expensive hospital — even if it’s part of the insurer’s network. The administration’s decision affects most job-based plans as well as the new insurance exchanges.”
“One way the new approach is different is that it sets a dollar limit on what the health plan will pay for a given procedure. Most insurance now pays a percentage of costs, and those costs themselves can vary from hospital to hospital. Now if you pick a more expensive hospital, the insurance still pays the same percentage.” “The new strategy works like this: Your health insurance plan slaps a dollar limit on what it will pay for certain procedures, for example, hospital charges associated with knee and hip replacement operations. That’s called the reference price. Say the limit is $30,000. The plan offers you a choice of hospitals within its provider network. If you pick one that charges $40,000, you would owe $10,000 to the hospital plus your regular cost-sharing for the $30,000 that your plan covers. The extra $10,000 is treated like an out-of-network expense, and it doesn’t count toward your plan’s annual limit on out-of-pocket costs.
* to read the full Washington Post article “Cost-control plan for health care could cost you” by the Associated Press, highlight and click on open hyperlink http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/cost-control-plan-for-health-care-could-cost-you/2014/05/16/9ccc5e2c-dccc-11e3-a837-8835df6c12c4_story.html?utm_campaign=KHN%3A+First+Edition&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=12802351&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_KatpQUylucGOhYaeiv4IAQue9nlPxYfuSV2k6w_ORsr6oXGGJY6-hEXypyLn9ZCLTe7W7u7MAV8Ox808NnrAkYhEnYsa3mPtEixVDP4Z88wumONU&_hsmi=12802351