Enrolling in high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) does not increase a person’s risk of experiencing major cardiovascular events, according to new findings published in JAMA Network Open.
The study tracked more than 302,000 patients with at least one cardiovascular risk factor. Data was gathered from health insurance claims for patients enrolled in either a HDHP or a low-deductible health plan (LDHP) from 2003 to 2014. For the sake of this research, a “low” deductible was defined as $500 or less; a “high” deductible was defined as $1,000 or more.
More than 156,000 patients from the study were continuously enrolled in a LDHP for one baseline year and then up to four years in a HDHP. Meanwhile, more than 146,000 patients were only enrolled in a LDHP.
Overall, the timing of an individual’s first major adverse cardiovascular event did not appear to be affected in any way by if they were enrolled in a HDHP or LDHP. The same was also true when looking specifically at patients with diabetes or other risk factors.
These results were not what the researchers expected when they began their study.
“Based on previous high-deductible health plan research, we had hypothesized that those with risk factors for cardiovascular disease would experience increases in major adverse cardiovascular events after a switch to HDHPs, but this did not turn out to be the case,” lead author J. Frank Wharam, MD, MPH, of the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute and Harvard Medical School, said in a statement. “HDHPs typically include features such as low or no out-of-pocket costs for medications and preventive services. Our study detected small changes in cardiovascular medication use and preventive services, which may have protected HDHP members from increased adverse cardiovascular events.”
Wharam et al. emphasized that employers and other policymakers should still be careful when promoting enrollment in HDHPs; other factors remain in play that were not the focus of this particular study. Also, the team noted, additional research in this area is still needed.
The full JAMA Network Open study is available here.
Michael has more than 16 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.