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A gloomy economic forecast could prove to be a sunny future for the health-care consumerism trend as more employers seek lower-cost solutions. Regina Herzlinger, a Harvard Business School Professor and author of Consumer-Driven Health Care: Implications for Providers, Payers and Policymakers, predicts that consumer-driven health plans (CDHPs) and high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) will grow substantially in number because of the recession and rising uninsured population, which, in turn, will lower rate increases as the market becomes more competitive. When people are forced to pay for medical services out of pocket and become more motivated to seek the best possible value, she says, providers may respond with a lower price point—citing as an example of this phenomenon the cost of Lasik eye surgery having fallen by almost 40%. Recent research appears to support her thinking. CIGNA Choice Fund account-based CDHPs reduced medical cost trends by 13% relative to HMO and PPO plans, according to a recent multi-year study that compares the health-care claims experience of nearly 440,000 covered lives. The principal conclusion was that CDHP enrollees were more apt to use more preventive services and comply with their medical treatments. Nearly 10 million employees enrolled in CDHPs and HDHPs last year, noted the Washington-based Employee Benefit Research Institute's (EBRI) 2008 Consumer Engagement in Health Care Survey. EBRI pegged CDHP participation at just 3% of the total population compared with 2% in 2007 and 11% for HDHPs—adding that, among the 13.4 million consumers with an HDHP, 42% did not have a health savings account. Other sources show even greater market traction. For example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's annual National Health Interview Survey found that 20% of the under-55 popuÂlation now has HDHPs. Greg Scandlen, a Senior Fellow and Director of Consumers for Health Care Choices at the Heartland Institute in Hagerstown, Maryland, calls it an "amazing feat in just six years' time." A key takeaway from the economic crisis for the health-care consumerism movement is that "institutions are not to be trusted, and all of a sudden self-Âreliance has really hit home," he observes.
A gloomy economic forecast could prove to be a sunny future for the health-care consumerism trend as more employers seek lower-cost solutions.
Regina Herzlinger, a Harvard Business School Professor and author of Consumer-Driven Health Care: Implications for Providers, Payers and Policymakers, predicts that consumer-driven health plans (CDHPs) and high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) will grow substantially in number because of the recession and rising uninsured population, which, in turn, will lower rate increases as the market becomes more competitive.
When people are forced to pay for medical services out of pocket and become more motivated to seek the best possible value, she says, providers may respond with a lower price point—citing as an example of this phenomenon the cost of Lasik eye surgery having fallen by almost 40%.
Recent research appears to support her thinking. CIGNA Choice Fund account-based CDHPs reduced medical cost trends by 13% relative to HMO and PPO plans, according to a recent multi-year study that compares the health-care claims experience of nearly 440,000 covered lives. The principal conclusion was that CDHP enrollees were more apt to use more preventive services and comply with their medical treatments.
Nearly 10 million employees enrolled in CDHPs and HDHPs last year, noted the Washington-based Employee Benefit Research Institute's (EBRI) 2008 Consumer Engagement in Health Care Survey. EBRI pegged CDHP participation at just 3% of the total population compared with 2% in 2007 and 11% for HDHPs—adding that, among the 13.4 million consumers with an HDHP, 42% did not have a health savings account.
Other sources show even greater market traction. For example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's annual National Health Interview Survey found that 20% of the under-55 popuÂlation now has HDHPs. Greg Scandlen, a Senior Fellow and Director of Consumers for Health Care Choices at the Heartland Institute in Hagerstown, Maryland, calls it an "amazing feat in just six years' time."
A key takeaway from the economic crisis for the health-care consumerism movement is that "institutions are not to be trusted, and all of a sudden self-Âreliance has really hit home," he observes.
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