ArticleHealth services research2022
Do high-deductible health plans affect price paid for childbirth?
Article in Health services research, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Policy options for controlling rising hospital prices and their outcomes: a framework-based analysis.Health economics review · 2026Review
- Use and Out-of-Pocket Costs of Antenatal Fetal Surveillance for Patients With Chronic Conditions.O&G open · 2026Article
- Deductible imputation in administrative medical claims datasets.Health services research · 2024Article
- Do high-deductible health plans affect price paid for childbirth?Health services research · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveTo test whether out-of-pocket costs and negotiated hospital prices for childbirth change after enrollment in high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) and whether price effects differ in markets with more hospitals. DATA SOURCES: Administrative medical claims data from 2010 to 2014 from three large commercial insurers with plans in all U.S. states provided by the Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI). STUDY
designI identify employer groups that switched from non-HDHPs in 1 year to HDHPs in a subsequent year. I estimate enrollees' change in out-of-pocket costs and negotiated hospital prices for childbirth after HDHP switch, relative to a comparison group of employers that do not switch plans. I use a triple-difference design to estimate price changes for enrollees in markets with more hospital choices. Finally, I re-estimate models with hospital-fixed effects. DATA COLLECTION: From the HCCI sample, childbearing women enrolled in an employer-sponsored plan with at least 10 people. PRINCIPAL
findingsSwitching to an HDHP increases out-of-pocket cost $227 (p < 0.001; comparison group base $790) and has no meaningful effect on hospital-negotiated prices (-$26, p = 0.756; comparison group base $5821). HDHP switch is associated with a marginally statistically significant price increase in markets with three or fewer hospitals ($343, p = 0.096; comparison group base $5806) and, relative to those markets, with a price decrease in markets with more than three hospitals (-$512; p = 0.028). Predicted prices decrease from $5702 to $5551 after HDHP switch in markets with more than three hospitals due primarily to lower prices conditional on using the same hospital.
conclusionsPrices for childbirth in markets with more hospitals decrease after HDHP switch due to lower hospital prices for HDHPs relative to prices at those same hospitals for non-HDHPs. These results reinforce previous findings that HDHPs do not promote price shopping but suggest negotiated prices may be lower for HDHP enrollees.
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Registered trials
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