High-deductible insurance policies combined with health savings accounts have been a success story in terms of keeping premiums in check, encouraging prudent consumption of health care, and allowing patients to save for future medical expenses. The Texas Policy Foundation reports that
States with the HDHP/HSA option currently in place include: Arkansas, ...
From Ari Armstrong:
Despite enactment of the Democratic health law, one reform Republicans and market advocates should fight to keep alive is the Health Savings Account (HSA), which allows people to put pre-tax money into an account dedicated to health-related expenses.
Experiences my wife and I have had this ...
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 ...
Congress to Healthcare Market: Drop Dead, economics Professor Mark J. Perry summarizes "market-based healthcare solutions have gone largely unnoticed, despite the fact that they have successfully lowered medical costs and improved both access and quality of service." He describes the success of:
Retail clinics
Retail clinic-hospital partnerships
"full range of medical services, from ...
From the Washington Post:
Walk-in medical clinics run by CVS, Wal-Mart and other retailers provide care for routine illnesses that is as good as, and costs less than, similar care offered in doctors' offices, hospital emergency rooms and urgent care centers, according to a new Rand Corp. study. The cost savings ...
Alex Tabarrok 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 ...
From Steven Burd, CEO of Safeway:
At Safeway we believe that well-designed health-care reform, utilizing market-based solutions, can ultimately reduce our nation's health-care bill by 40%. The key to achieving these savings is health-care plans that reward healthy behavior. As a self-insured employer, Safeway designed just such a plan in 2005 ...
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 ...
Linda Gorman, Director of the Independence Institute's Health Care Policy Center has a new report: ''Why Milwaukee Health Care Costs are High: What to Do About It.'' (Her summary us here.) It's chock full of good references and analysis on how people with different levels of health can save ...
Check out Linda Gorman's post on how Manitowoc County, Wisconsin has saved its taxpayers and employees money by offering its employees high-deductible insurance plans and contributing to their Health Savings Accounts (HSAs):
It estimates that employees with family plans will save a minimum of $2,126.70 in cash compared to what ...
