New polls reveal patients, nurses, and physicians face issues due to health insurance policies and practices.
Commercial health insurer policies create care barriers for patients, administrative burden for nurses and physicians, and high healthcare costs, according to surveys by Morning Consult for the American Hospital Association.
The polls included samples of 1,502 adults, 500 nurses, and 500 physicians between December 2022 and April 2023.
More than three out of five patients (62%) said they have had care delayed because of their insurer in the past two years, with 43% of those patients reporting their health worsened as a result.
When it comes to determining what care they receive, patients overwhelmingly (83%) prefer their provider decides, rather than their insurer.
Most nurses (84%) also said insurance administrative policies delay patient care, while 74% said it reduces the quality of care and 63% said it interferes with a patient being transferred to the right care setting.
Of the physicians surveyed, more than 80% said insurers affect their ability to practice medicine.
Further, 84% of physicians said insurer policies make it difficult to operate a solo practice and 56% of nurses reported their job satisfaction has decreased because of insurance administrative requirements.
"These surveys bear out what we've heard for years — certain insurance companies' policies and practices are reducing health care access and making it more difficult for our already overwhelmed clinicians to provide care," AHA president and CEO Rick Pollack said in a press release. "Health insurance should be a bridge to medical care, not a barrier to it for patients. If policymakers are serious about expanding access and addressing the health care workforce crisis, then we must hold insurance companies accountable for these harmful practices."
Another survey, by Kaiser Family Foundation, also found that most insured adults experience problems when using their insurance.
More than half (58%) of respondents reported experiencing issues with their insurance in the past 12 months, with problems ranging from denied claims to prior authorization hold-ups.
Jay Asser is the contributing editor for strategy at HealthLeaders.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Surveys conducted by Morning Consult for the American Hospital Association illustrate how health insurers negatively affect patients and providers.
Of the patients polled, 62% reported having had care delayed because of their insurer in the past two years.