Oklahoma Federal Health Insurance Exchange vs Case Shifting
The Oklahoma Federal Health Insurance Exchange has basically reported that many health policies in the state will increase by up to 34%. Reading that headline reminded me of the case shifting that was forecasted by Dr. Richard Victor (WCRI Director) at the 2015 WCRI Conference. This earlier CutCompCosts article was from a live blog during that conference.
Case shifting may occur if the injured employee decides to report what was otherwise a health claim as a Workers Comp claim. Oklahoma may be a great proving ground for the case shifting theory.
A follow-up article on the Cutcompcosts blog did indicate the occurrences of case shifting were very likely occurring.
According to the Exchange article
“Statewide, the average benchmark premium (second-lowest-cost-Silver plan) in the Oklahoma federal health insurance exchange will be 35.7 percent more expensive in 2016 than it was in 2015. This is the sharpest increase in any of the 37 states that used Healthcare.gov in 2015.”
Oklahoma will likely be a state to watch to see if case shifting occurs where the price of health insurance becomes much more expensive in just one year. The other variable that may affect the case shifting could possibly be a serious downturn in an oil-based economy due to lower imported oil prices.
I will return back this article or refer to it in a follow-up article later this year or early next year. Update – a followup study was not generated by WCRI or the State of Oklahoma on case shifting.
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