Land O’Lakes employees happy with consumer-directed insurance

Friday, February 19th, 2010

The president and CEO of Land O'Lakes says: Offering consumer-driven health plans to Land O’Lakes employees is helping to keep health care costs in check, while maintaining or improving care quality. For Land O’Lakes, this approach supports our commitment to employees, while at the same time ensuring that we remain highly ...

Will health “reform” kill HSAs & high-deductible insurance plans?

Sunday, January 10th, 2010

By attacking Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs), Democrats want use tax policy to punish people who prefer to buy medical care directly, rather than through insurance.  Sounds like they favor the insurance industry, no? On January 9, the AP reported that: House Democrats want to require insurers to ...

Democrats seek to ban affordable insurance

Saturday, November 21st, 2009

HSA-qualified insurance: affordable premiums, patients spend prudently & take responsibility for their own health, and can save for future expenses. But politicians like Harry Reid want to make HSA-qualified insurance plans illegal. Read about it in the Wall Street Journal: The End of HSAs: Harry Reid wants to kill consumer-driven health ...

Paying for your own medical care

Saturday, October 10th, 2009

The success of HSA-qualified plans and evidence from the RAND health insurance experiment show how patients are prudent consumers of medical care when they spend their own money, rather than an insurance company. Ari Armstrong relates his personal experience in a recent article: Not only does my doctor knowledgeably answer all ...

Outlawing affordable health insurance

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

A few months ago Jon Caldara and others at the Independence Institute put together a great video about how Obama Care would outlaw affordable insurance. In All the President's Mandates: Compulsory Health Insurance Is a Government Takeover, Michael Cannon of the Cato Institute explains this in detail. That is, how ...

Who decides on medical care? Insurers & government, not you

Monday, August 31st, 2009

In the Wall Street Journal Betsy McCaughey has written about Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel's views on reducing and determining patients' medical care. The Journal refers to  Dr. Emanuel as "Obama's Rationer-in-Chief." His official positions are as health-policy adviser at the Office of Management and Budget and a member of the ...

Success of Health Savings Accounts & high-deductible insurance

Saturday, August 22nd, 2009

Alex Tabborok summarizes the results of a study by the The American Academy of Actuaries: Emerging Data on Consumer-Driven Health Plans. Cost-savings: 12% to 21% in the first year. Cost containment: Compared to traditional insurance with higher deductible, costs appear to increase more slowly. Proper and preventive care. Quoting the report: "Generally, all ...

Consumer Reports: buy an HSA for your pet

Tuesday, May 19th, 2009

John Goodman summarizes a Consumer Reports article recommending that pet owners self-insure instead of spending money on premiums.  But when it comes to people, Goodman says CR recommends national health insurance.  Hmm.

HSA-qualified plans: lower costs, more preventive care

Thursday, November 20th, 2008

From WellPoint, a U.S. insurance company: A recent study of consumer-directed health plans (CDHPs) by WellPoint, Inc.1,2 found good news for both employers and consumers. Employers, the most common source of health benefits in the United States, are faced with increasing cost pressures. However, the employers in WellPoint’s study who switched ...

Stossel - Sick in America, Part 5

Friday, September 5th, 2008

Continued from Part 4. Topics: High deductibles are good.  Whole Foods example.  Whole Foods contributes to employees' Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), which accumulates and grows over time. (Speech my Whole Foods CEO on this topic. Do HSAs discourage patients from getting preventive care?  Many policies cover preventive care, and it gives patients incentives ...