The Payability Papers · Paper No. 2
Payability, Measured
What Employees Told Us About Paying for Care — and What It Means for Access and Plan Costs
How employees pay for care shapes whether they can use their benefits and manage out-of-pocket costs.
In a new survey of 2,000+ full-time employees with employer health coverage, two-thirds said an unexpected $1,000 payment due tomorrow would be harder to manage than a $2,000 bill they knew was coming in six months.
And 44% said they delayed, skipped, or decided against needed care because of cost in the past year.
The findings point to an overlooked lever for employers: a better out-of-pocket payment experience to support access to care and more efficient plan performance.
KEY FINDINGS
- 61% have paid for care or medication in cash without filing a claim
- Only 29% believe their employer fully understands what paying for care out of pocket is like
- 80% would view their employer as more attuned to their financial realities if they could pay healthcare costs over time
The Payability Papers
Affordability + Payability
= Access + Savings
The Payability Papers explore how the out-of-pocket payment experience affects employees and the health plans that serve them.
Paper No. 2 brings new employee research to the conversation, showing how payment preferences, cost-related care decisions, and invisible out-of-pocket spending can inform more effective plan design.
This is a research-backed read for HR and benefits leaders, employers, and brokers looking beyond the usual tradeoff between more coverage and higher employee cost-sharing.
In case you missed Paper No. 1, you can read it here.
About Paytient
Paytient is the leader in innovative healthcare payment solutions. Our Healthcare Payability Platform has put over $2 billion in purchasing power into the hands of nearly 2 million lives across employer-sponsored plans and ACA markets, and nearly $50 billion of purchasing power into the hands of 24 million Medicare beneficiaries. In doing so, Paytient is helping shape more accessible, equitable, and lower-cost health plans across commercial, individual, and regulated healthcare markets.