With the possible exception of groceries, we generally don’t shop by throwing items of unknown price in our cart, awaiting a mystery total at checkout and hoping we can cover it.
Healthcare is no different, at least in theory. But given labyrinthine pricing that varies widely, people embark on medical journeys with no idea what it will cost — or if they can afford it. The engrained thinking is that we can’t afford to forgo tests and treatments, and yet we are.
Even as household savings swelled to their highest levels in years during the pandemic, PYMNTS research finds patients putting off routine doctor visits to elective surgery due to price fears.
What results is bad customer/patient experience either way. That is, unless consumers are offered forms of financing purpose-built for healthcare affordability and peace of mind.
Wellness And Affordability: How Payments Practices Create Positive Patient Experiences, a PYMNTS report with research sponsored by CareCredit, explores the issue in depth, surveying over 3,500 U.S. consumers about remedying healthcare payments via consumerization.
Per the new study, “33% of consumers have opted out of seeking needed medical care, either by not making necessary healthcare appointments or abandoning needed treatment, and 21% of these patients report that cost was the most important factor.”
For nearly a quarter (22%) of those not seeking treatment, affordability was the top concern, with an added 11% citing concerns that insurance coverage will be inadequate.
Only 30% of consumers reported getting treatment estimates prior, although most want them.
Contrast those findings with this one: 89% of respondents said knowing costs and paying prior to visits makes managing healthcare outlays easier.
Get the study: Wellness And Affordability: How Payments Practices Create Positive Patient Experiences
Insurance is No Cure-All
Curiously, consumer/patients with health insurance are still thrown by the cost-benefit math of being seen by a doctor or undergoing a medical procedure.
It’s not unwarranted, with the study finding that “insurance paid the entire cost of the most recent healthcare visits for just 36% of respondents, with this share reaching 43% for baby boomers and seniors.”
Fully 70% of consumers make out-of-pocket healthcare payments, including the insured.
Healthcare costs cause consumer/patient anxiety in a few ways, and those fears are considerably lessened by cost transparency the presence of payment options. That leads to experiential outcomes that practices desire, as more consumers are willing to switch doctors.
According to the latest findings, nearly 60% of respondents said, “services not being covered was an important reason they would leave their healthcare provider.”
Issues of healthcare budgeting and affordability are being addressed with new digital tools like healthcare credit lines whose terms align with and bolster consumer financing options.
Payments choice at the doctor or hospital is vital to the 54% of Americans who earn between $50,000 and $100,000 annually and live paycheck to paycheck, as well as the 40% earning over $100,000 also just making ends meet, and more likely to put off treatment due to cost.
Get the study: Wellness And Affordability: How Payments Practices Create Positive Patient Experiences
Consumers Want Healthcare Financing Options
While not all consumers say pre-treatment estimates would be helpful, large percentages want this information beforehand to time and plan for treatments that are inevitable for many.
According to the new data, Generation Z and millennials are paying the highest out-of-pocket healthcare costs, averaging roughly $1,150 per patient on “visits and prescriptions but excluding the costs of health insurance premiums” in the last 12 months.
As costs pile up, and with consumer/patients now scrambling to attend to health issues they put off during pandemic chaos, experience is at a premium. Data shows that consumer/patient experience is improved by payments choice including third-party financing options.
We found that “among respondents who visited at least one healthcare provider during last year, 45% are interested in using these kinds of payments in the future, including a 26% share that are very or extremely interested in using them.”
Get the study: Wellness And Affordability: How Payments Practices Create Positive Patient Experiences
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