High-Deductible Plans and HSA's Not Gaining Traction

The post below is from one of my favorite places to peruse, The Health Care Blog. Really a quality site for wonks (or those of us who try to be). This particular post piqued my interest because it touches a nerve for all providers, like myself, who deal with both patients and policy.

My feelings about HSA's and high-deductible plans are mixed. Yes, they can allow for easier access to health insurance among the uninsured, especially small business owners. They do fill a niche but that might be all. If I did not have good benefits through my wife's job this is actually the type of plan I would have to consider. However, this again reflects a policy trend that allows HMO's to provide a lot less coverage for only slightly less premium cost. Which means...you got it...much more profit for the HMO. After you're done paying the high deductible and higher co-pays you pretty much lose the advantage of slightly lower premiums. If you do the math that can be a bad deal and I think that's why people are not taking to them. Also, people simply do not trust HMO products anymore. Especially the new ones that are promoted as "consumer oriented." It's not consumer oriented if the consumer pays just a little less but gets A LOT less in return. That is a sham. Then again, it might be the better sham for you and your family. You decide.

If you can deal with my typo's (typing while dealing with a 2yr old can be a test) you can read the comments myself and few others exchanged by going to the site and clicking on "comments" at the end of the post.


From http://www.thehealthcareblog.com/

POLICY: Low prices ain't cheap enough

Mercer says that the number of small businesses offering health insurance to workers went down last year despite the greater and easier availability of high-deductible and HSA plans.
Fewer small employers offered health insurance this year, despite the widespread availability of new, lower-cost high-deductible insurance plans, a survey released today by benefit firm Mercer shows. Advocates of the high-deductible plans touted them as one solution to the growing number of uninsured, expecting the plans to appeal to small employers, who would continue to offer health insurance as a result. "That's not happening," says Blaine Bos, a Mercer partner and one of the study authors. "In fact, the reverse is happening."The study of nearly 3,000 employers found that the percentage of employers with 200 workers or fewer offering any kind of health insurance fell to 61% this year from 63% in 2006.That drop came even as the cost of high-deductible plans with tax-free savings accounts averaged $5,970 per worker per year. That was $700 less than a comparable plan without a savings account and far lower than the $7,120 for the average HMO, the study says. HSA/HRA type plans are growing in the market, but not as fast as employers are dropping coverage.
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