Use cost sharing with caution on chronic patients

Cost sharing can help employers and consumers alike spend less on healthcare, but the practice should be used with caution when it comes to the sickest patients, the New York Times reported. High deductibles or other out-of-pocket costs might be a deterrent to receiving treatment, which can have a long-term effect of increasing hospitalization spending. For cost sharing to work, value-based insurance programs need to be more "finely targeted," with care and medication for chronic patients less expensive than it is for healthy ones. Article