Industry News

On December 2, 2021, the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) released its survey report, Consumer Engagement in Health Care Survey. According to the annual survey, the interest in telemedicine has increased to 17% for adults in 2021 from 7% in 2017 with high satisfaction ratings for telemedicine visits while growth in high-deductible health plans (HDHP) has decreased to 18% in 2021 from a record high of 19% in 2020.

Other key findings include:

• Traditional plan enrollees are more satisfied with health coverage with 63% being extremely or very satisfied;
• Fewer HDHP enrollees have been in their health plans for 10 or more years;
• HDHP enrollee satisfaction increases over time with 54% of those being on their health plans for three or more years in 2021 reporting being extremely or very satisfied up from 30% in 2020;
• Enrollment in HDHP & consumer-directed health plans (CDHP) fell to 13% in 2021 from 15% in 2020;
• HDHP enrollees demonstrate more cost-conscious behavior than traditional plan enrollees; and
• Certain features of health plans are more important than others (such as the network of health care providers, ease of access to health care, prescription drug coverage, low out-of-pocket costs and low premiums).

The survey was conducted by EBRI and Greenwald Research of national data on privately insured adults on the growth of consumer-driven health plans and high-deductible health plans and the effects on the behavior and attitudes of health care consumers.

The report is available here.