"[W]hen notified toward the end of the plan year of impending reductions to their medical plans for the upcoming plan year, savvy members often 'rush' off to get deferred elective medical care in order to take advantage of the current richer plan design.... Subsequently, if more elective medical procedures are performed in the last quarter of the previous year during this rush period, there is a slowdown or 'hush' in medical care in the first few quarters of the new plan year.... In the second year of the new plan, as costs return back to normal levels there is a trend 'crush' compared with the previous year because it's compared with a lower base level of claims from the first year of the new design."

MORE >>