By Kim Dixon

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Pediatricians in the United States on Monday warned that new high-deductible health plans risk compromising patient care, especially among poorer children, with the unintended consequence of increasing medical costs.

The new health plans are dubbed "consumer-directed" plans by supporters, because patients are responsible for more of the costs, a feature they say should encourage people to take a more active role in their medical care.

"Faced with difficult choices, families may seek to 'load up' on a scheduled visit to save money or delay care until after the deductible is met," the group wrote in the March issue of the journal, Pediatrics. The group represents 60,000 physicians in the United States specializing in treating children.

The report comes as the share of U.S. employers offering health insurance has been slipping, according to the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation. Roughly 60 percent offered health coverage during 2005, down from 69 percent in 2000.

In 2005, in lieu of dropping health coverage, about 30 percent of large and midsize corporations offered the high- deductible plans, which typically are coupled with a tax-favored savings account for health costs. That compares with 7 percent of companies polled by employee benefits consultant Watson Wyatt in 2004.

The biggest managed health-care companies, such as UnitedHealth Group and WellPoint Inc., have touted the plans to employers as a way to rein in medical costs, by encouraging better health-care choices.

The plans are able to exempt preventive services from the deductible requirement, and about 30 percent do so, according to the pediatricians' group.

It recommends changing the tax code to compel the plans to exempt preventive care. It also worries that the plans will lead to a "destabilization" of employer-sponsored health insurance.

Health insurance reform has become a national issue as the ranks of the uninsured rises steadily, now at 46.6 million, or 17 percent of the population.

Critics also say patients with these plans are more likely to skip prescriptions and fail to follow up with their doctors than those with traditional insurance.