A California Healthline article on consumer-driven health plans

[Guest guest]

“Employee

benefits company Towers Perrin last month published a survey that found many

enrollees in consumer-directed health plans believe they have less ability to

find high-quality health care providers than enrollees in traditional

plans.” This is a quote from the article below. How to we

help enrollees find our practices???

Did anyone see the actual WSJ article???

Marty

June

12, 2007

Long-Term Prospects for Consumer-Driven

Plans Under Question

Low enrollment in high-deductible health plans with health savings

accounts and low satisfaction among many enrollees in the plans have

raised the " question of whether consumer-directed plans will stall

before they ever hit the mainstream, " the Wall Street Journal

reports.

Data indicate that the eight million to 10 million enrollees in

consumer-directed health plans spend less on medical care than

enrollees in traditional health plans, a result that " is

encouraging more employers to introduce such plans to their workers

over the next two years, " according to the Journal.

According to a survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Health

Research and Educational Trust, enrollment in consumer-directed health

plans sponsored by employers, when dependents and companies with fewer

than three employees are excluded, was 2.7 million in 2006, compared

with 2.4 million in 2005. Nineteen percent of employees who have a

choice between consumer-directed health plans and traditional plans

select consumer-directed plans, according to Kaiser/HRET.

The Federal Employees Health Benefits Programhas offered

consumer-directed health plans for several years, but only about 50,000

of eight million members had enrolled in the plans as of last year,

according to health insurance industry estimates. In addition,

enrollees in consumer-directed health plans " often report lower

satisfaction and confusion about how the plans are supposed to

work, " the Journal reports.

Employee benefits company Towers Perrin last month published a survey

that found many enrollees in consumer-directed health plans believe

they have less ability to find high-quality health care providers than

enrollees in traditional plans. In addition, the survey found that only

29% of enrollees in consumer-directed health plans attempted to save

funds in their HSAs for future medical expenses.

According to the Journal, one " reason for the

frustration is the uphill battle that many consumers describe in trying

to shop for their health care. "

Comments

Guilmette, managing director of the health care consulting

practice at Towers Perrin, said, " If I were a product manager in

any other industry and saw scores this low in customer satisfaction and

understanding, I'd be thinking of pulling that product from the shelves

or retooling it. "

However, supporters of consumer-directed health plans said that

enrollment in the plans has increased at a faster rate than enrollment

in HMOs when those plans first entered the market in the 1970s. In

addition, most enrollees in consumer-directed health plans do not

switch to traditional plans, according to supporters.

Larry Boress, president of the Midwest Business Group on Health, said

that most employers that offer consumer-directed health plans " still

do not have the time, effort or resources " to teach employees to

use the plans effectively. According to the Journal,

an increased number of health insurance industry experts have said that

consumer-directed health plans " to succeed " must provide

" coverage that is at least as rich as traditional plans. "

Bill Sharon, a senior vice president at the human resources consulting

division of Aon, said, " If you're just trying to cost shift, and

you only get 10% of your employees in, they are the youngest and

healthiest, and you haven't accomplished anything in terms of health

care costs " (Fuhrmans, Wall Street Journal,

6/12).

Public

Agencies Face Rising Retiree Health Care Costs

Study:

Low Medicare, Medicaid Pay Drives Up Insurance Costs

State

Begins Verifying Citizenship for Medi-Cal

Democratic

Health Care Reform Plans Advance in California

Wisconsin

Tops U.S. List for Health Care Quality Rankings

© 1998-2007. All Rights Reserved. California Healthline is

published daily for

The California HealthCare Foundation

by The Advisory Board

Company.