By Robert Weisman and Chelsea Conaboy
Told he had an aggressive form of prostate cancer, Glenn McCarthy faced a decision this year.
He could make a $1,000 copayment and have surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in about two weeks. Or he could wait more than a month for an opening at Faulkner Hospital, paying just $150 for the same procedure by the same surgeon.
His doctor advised against a delay.
“It was life or death,’’ said McCarthy’s wife, Tracy. “We really didn’t have a choice.’’
McCarthy, 48, of Weymouth, is back at work as an insulation installer. But he is still recovering from his out-of-pocket costs, which totaled more than $4,500 after there were surgical complications.
The expenses were dictated by his “tiered network’’ health insurance, a kind of plan that ranks hospitals and doctors by cost and quality measures and assigns patients’ payments with costs in mind.
More Massachusetts employers and consumers are embracing such plans – along with other “limited network’’ plans that restrict members to certain providers and require them to pay higher rates for out-of-network care – in an effort to stem the rising cost of health insurance by directing patients to lower-cost hospitals.
Read full article on BostonGlobe.com >
“
