A study out today finds that high-deductible health plans do cut down on health-care spending – but also prompt patients to get less preventative care. The RAND Corporation, which ran the study, says it is the largest ever of its kind. The group studied more than 800,000 families and found that when they moved to plans with deductibles over $1,000, health spending dropped an average of 14%. But the study also found that those families cut back on things like childhood immunizations, cancer screenings and diabetes tests. Childhood vaccination rates among families in traditional plans rose, while

they dropped among those in the high-deductible plans, for instance. RAND says that drop happened even though high-deductible plans waive the need to pay a deductible when receiving preventative services, suggesting that enrollees did not understand this part of their policy. High-deductible plans are on the rise. The study looked at families insured through 53 big employers during 2004 and 2005. RAND says by 2009, 20% of Americans with employer-sponsored coverage elected such plans. A 2010 survey found that more than half of large employers offered such a plan.

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Downside of High-Deductible Plans