Point of Service Plans Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Point of Service Plans - Article Example The health care sector has changed its insurance plans which used to be high but were being paid in large amounts by the employers to a â€Å"more cheaper, manageable and consolidated† plan where the patient (employee of the family member of the employee) receives medical care from one point and the physician acts as the point of service of the patient (Point of Service health plan). The new plan as explained in detail by the article reduces the health care costs but at the same time increases other costs like family deductibles, premiums and even the out-of-pocket expenses. All these expenses are almost fully paid by the employee and not the employer and hence increasing event he burden of health care further than it previously was before this new merger of Preferred Provider Organization plan (PPO) and Health Maintenance Organization plan (HMO) that brought about the birth of Point of Service plan (POS) was formulated and implemented. The latest statistics collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) in the United States of America show that the employer no longer fully caters for the health care plans of their full time employees. The statistics indicate that in 1998, over 86% of the employees participated in a medical insurance plan which catered for all their health problems. However, data collected in 2011 shows that only an average of 82% of the employees are involved in a medical plan. The plan the government employees were being offered and are still being offered is the Point of Service Plan. The decline in the health care plan has been pin-pointed to certain services like dental care, prescription drug coverage for outpatients and even in visual care. This is attributed to the fact that these services are costly and hence the employees cannot afford to pay for them. These services are also usually not provided in local health care centers and hence requires the