MASSDEVICE ON CALL —GE Healthcare’s (NYSE:GE) decision to switch a large swath of its employees to a high-deductible health plan may be bad news for its own imaging business, one of the world’s largest.

The new insurance plan has cut MRI and CT imaging use by nearly 25%, which is good news for the healthcare giant’s $2.5 billion healthcare costs but could spell disaster for one of the company’s largest divisions.

Similar insurance changes at other large companies and Medicare imaging reimbursements cuts may outpace GE’s efforts to boost its imaging business through pipeline padding and focus on emerging markets, according to the Wall Street Journal.

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