Headlines about "Health plans - consumer-driven"
Gathered from the web by the editors at BenefitsLink.com.
[Opinion] Are CDHPs/HSAs Ready to Battle a Public Health Plan?
Excerpt: "In an attempt to resurrect CDHPs' standing and make them part of the healthcare reform debate, two reports released over the past week from the health insurance industry promote the idea of health savings accounts. But health insurers need more than just surveys given the heightened interest of a public health plan in Washington. The industry must improve on CDHP tools, such as cost and quality Web sites, real-time claims adjudication, and member outreach, in preparation of competition from a public health plan." (HealthLeaders Media via HCPro, Inc.)
[Guidance Overview] 2010 Minimums and Maximums for Health Savings Accounts Plans and High-Deductible Health Plans
Excerpt: "On May 14, 2009, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released Revenue Procedure 2009-29,1 which announced various inflation-adjusted amounts for 2010 for Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and High-Deductible Health Plans (HDHPs). The IRS calculates the annual adjustments using the 12-month period ending March 31." (The Segal Group, Inc.)
[Guidance Overview] The 2010 HSA Contribution Limits and HDHP Minimum Deductibles and Out-of-Pocket Maximums
Excerpt: "EBIA Comment: The inflation-adjusted figures announced in this revenue procedure are not effective until 2010, but those working with HSAs and HDHPs will be glad to have these figures now as they plan both benefits design and employee communications for the coming year. On a related note, the annual catch-up contribution limit (for HSA-eligible individuals who are age 55 or older), set by statute, remains at $1,000 for 2010." (Employee Benefits Institute of America)
January 2009 Census Shows 8 Million People Covered by HSA Qualified High-Deductible Health Plans (PDF)
16 pages. Excerpt: "The number of people with HSA/HDHP coverage rose to 8.0 million in January 2009, up from 6.1 million in January 2008, 4.5 million in January 2007, and 3.2 million in January 2006. Between January 2008 and January 2009, the fastest growing market for HSA/HDHP products was large-group coverage which rose by approximately 35 percent, followed by small-group coverage which similarly rose at 34 percent." (America's Health Insurance Plans)
Consumer-Driven Healthcare Savings and the Need for Better Information
Excerpt: "With several years of actual CDHP data now on the books, we can begin to assess the impact and the efficacy of CDHPs. Milliman's 'Consumer-driven impact study' (CDI), a risk-adjusted analysis of the impact of CDHPs at six U.S. companies, produced an interesting and varying picture of how these plans are doing. The high-level view may not be particularly surprising: a bunch of good news, a little bad/disappointing news, and a number of pending issues. In short, the future of CDHP looks promising but work remains to be done." (Milliman)
Workers Want to Know How CDHPs Work for Them, Not the Company
Excerpt: "Of course, we know that communication is critical to launching these plans and getting employees to enroll, especially when traditional options are still on the table. Where I see companies stumble is in keeping too much focus on the big picture instead of really explaining what the plans mean for individual workers. You can be guaranteed that eyes will glaze over at the first mention of the 'millions of dollars' spent on health care. You can explain the company's investment in health care and the dollars added to each individual employee's salary in the form of medical benefits. And, you can use examples and simple profiles to show how the plans work and their value, without overwhelming employees with facts and figures. In-person (or virtual) meetings are of huge benefit too -- don't just pile on the print materials and expect employees to dig through it all." (Employee Benefit Adviser)
Diagnosis HSA ? A Treatment Plan for Employers (PDF)
6 pages. Excerpt: "As the economy continues to contract globally U.S. employers are seeking and finding benefit plan design and funding solutions to control and manage both short- and long-term costs. So what is the diagnosis for Health Savings Account (HSA) qualified plans and HSAs specifically? At the heart of the most innovative approaches is a combination of High-Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) design features joined with a tax-advantaged HSA. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, HSA-qualified plans reduce the premiums to offer health insurance and the savings nearly offset all of the deductible." (Buck Consultants)
Podcast: Health Plan Options Help Produce Cost-Conscious Health Care Consumers
10 minutes. Excerpt: "As employers look to control health care costs, more are adding account-based consumer directed plans and encouraging participation in wellness programs. Mercer's Sander Domaszewicz talks with Richard Klein about these and other cost-cutting measures employers are taking, as revealed in Mercer's National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans." (Mercer LLC)
Consumer-Directed Plans, FSAs Attract Well-Paid, Well Educated Employees, According to Study
Excerpt: "These were among the conclusions of the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) Data Brief #15, Consumer-Directed Health Care for Persons Under 65 Years of Age with Private Health Insurance: United States, 2007, released this month. Of privately insured persons younger than age 65, 17.3% were enrolled in HDHPs, 4.5% were enrolled in CDHPs, and 14.8% were in families with an FSA." (Wolters Kluwer)
Outlook for Consumer/Patient Engagement in Health Care: Consumer-Directed Health Plans (PDF)
12 pages. Excerpt: "The Employee Benefit Research Institute's (EBRI) December 2008 policy forum, titled 'Outlook for Consumer/Patient Engagement in Health Care -- 30 Years into the Experiment,' took a detailed look at consumer-directed health plans and related issues. TWO VIEWS OF CONSUMER-DIRECTED PLANS: Policy forum participants heard two very different presentations on the prospects for consumer-directed plans. One speaker was optimistic, saying consumer-directed plans have worked because individuals in these plans have substituted less expensive care for more expensive care in order to minimize their out-of-pocket costs. Another speaker was skeptical, saying consumerism will have a 'marginal impact' but will not solve the problem of rising health care costs." (Employee Benefit Research Institute)
U.S. Employers Expect Steady Rise in Health Costs, According to Survey
Excerpt: "U.S. employers expect increases in health care costs will stay at a steady 6 percent this year, twice the rate of inflation, according to a survey published on Thursday. The survey of 489 large U.S. employers also showed that more plan to offer consumer-directed health plans in 2010 to try to control cost increases. 'Cost increases have stabilized, but the financial crisis is causing many companies to reevaluate their health plan strategies,' said Ted Nussbaum, group and health care practice expert at consultants Watson Wyatt, which helped conduct the survey." (Reuters)
[Opinion] Health Savings Accounts Are Ill-Advised
Excerpt: "Critics of health savings accounts counter that the plans favor the healthy and wealthy, and can increase medical costs for everyone else by requiring people to take out high-deductible insurance policies that kick in only after thousands of dollars in healthcare expenses have been rung up. 'Most people can't even afford to put money into the account,' said Jerry Flanagan, health policy director for Consumer Watchdog in Santa Monica. 'All the money goes into premiums and deductibles.'" (Los Angeles Times via)
Health Savings Accounts and High-Deductible Health Insurance Plans: Implications for Those with High Medical Costs, Low Incomes, and the Uninsured
Excerpt: "The authors note that: HSA/HDHPs are a highly tax-advantaged savings vehicle appealing to people who have high incomes and to those who are expected to have low use of health care services. For the uninsured, these approaches are less attractive since they often have low income and neither benefit significantly from the tax advantages now have the financial assets necessary to cover the large deductibles associated with the plans. Their ability to reduce system-wide spending is very limited.The plans have the potential to increase segmentation of health care risk in private insurance markets unless employers set premiums to offset the healthier selection into the plans or government subsidizes the higher costs associated with the remaining non-HSA market." (Urban Institute / Robert Wood Johnson Foundation)
HSAs Could Be Boon for Banks
Excerpt: "The Health Savings Account (HSA) business has apparently been kind to bank-based HSA providers, according to a new research report on the niche market segment. The market analysis by Celent indicated that the upward trend is due to the rising cost of health care and the increased adoption of HSA-qualified consumer directed health plans (CDHP). For the six-month period from January to July 2008, accounts grew by 22%, while total balances grew by 40%.' Given the financial industry's current liquidity crisis, such balance gains should come as very welcome news,' Celent commented in the report." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)
Health Savings Accounts and High-Deductible Health Plans: Fighting the Spiraling Cost of Health Insurance for Companies and Employees (PDF)
7 pages. Excerpt: "An editorial by Steve Forbes on Health Savings Accounts presented the most intriguing partial solution. After a lot of research (and despite our small size of fewer than 50 eligible employees), we decided to give our employees a choice between a traditional but somewhat costly Point of Service (POS) plan, as we had always offered, and a newer, high-deductible health plan (HDHP) accompanied by a Health Savings Account (HSA). Overall, that decision has proved to be one of the best moves we've ever made." (Institute of Management Accountants, Inc.)
Consumer-Driven Health Care: Promise and Performance
Excerpt: "This paper analyzes the evolution of consumer-driven health care in terms of its original vision, its subsequent implementation, and the transformations it has endured as it moves into its second decade. The market is generating product designs that combine elements of consumerism with elements of managed care, but the trend is always toward a stronger role for consumer choice and a weaker role for management of those choices by physicians, insurers, employers, and regulators." (Health Affairs)
Public Employers Focusing More on Disease Management, According to Survey
Excerpt: "A recent health care survey found the majority of public sector employers are working to control costs by implementing disease management and wellness programs, instead of introducing consumer-driven health plans (CDHPs). A news release from the the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans (IFEBP) said more than half of public employers who responded to the survey indicate they have implemented a disease management (69%) or a wellness program (65%)." (PLANSPONSOR.com; free registration required)
How Large Employer Health Plans Are Managing Change to Consumer-Driven Healthcare Model
3 pages. Excerpt: "This article provide tips on how to manage that change [to tax-advantaged heath accounts and wellness programs] -- how to accomplish a paradigm shift that affects every employee with a minimum amount of disruption." (Dorsey & Whitney LLP; Reprinted from BNA's Health Plan & Provider)
Steady Consumer-Directed Health Growth Is Expected for 2009: Survey Findings (PDF)
Pages 1, 4-5 of 9 pages. Excerpt: "Employee benefits consultants are optimistic that consumer-directed health (CDH) will continue to see steady growth in 2009 and could even become part of health reform efforts, according to the fourth annual survey conducted by Inside Consumer-Directed Care and ISCEBS. However, employers' and employees' limited understanding about the plans remains a key barrier to the acceptance of the plans. Despite these concerns, many respondents were optimistic that enrollment will continue to grow as employers become more comfortable with the price setting and employees gain a better understanding of the potential cost-saving benefits." (Inside Consumer-Directed Care and International Society of Certified Employee Benefit Specialists)
Can Free Advice on Care Choices Lower Health Costs?
Excerpt: "With a vast database of medical information at her fingertips, [a nurse] is testing the premise that patients can make smart choices about quality even when confronted with overwhelming, high-risk medical decisions. In theory, the collective power of those informed consumers will drive up quality and drive down costs, just as it has done in industries from autos to mutual funds. 'That is the health care debate,' said Rob Webb, head of the Care Solutions division at OptumHealth, the Plymouth-based company that employs Imig. 'Can this be a consumer driven economy?'" (Star Tribune)
High-Deductible Plans Could Be 'Next Frontier' for Cost Management
Excerpt: "Until now, most health plans and employers have rewarded employees for participating in wellness programs rather than achieving good health in four areas: weight, not smoking, cholesterol and blood pressure. Employers are increasingly recognizing the connection between a person's lifestyle and their health care costs. More are willing to offer monetary incentives for employees to participate in wellness programs. Few, however, have tied incentives to employees' ability to be healthier." (Workforce Management; free registration required)
Findings From the 2008 EBRI Consumer Engagement in Health Care Survey
Excerpt: "[The study] provides nationally representative data regarding the growth of account-based health plans and high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) and the impact of these plans and consumer engagement more generally on the behavior and attitudes of adults with private health insurance coverage." (Employee Benefit Research Institute)
High-Deductible Health Plans Might Flourish in Economic Downturn
Excerpt: "Health insurers are aggressively marketing high-deductible insurance plans that allow patients to reduce their out-of-pocket costs by improving their health. But employers, concerned with legal issues and upsetting employees, have largely stayed away. A prolonged recession could change that, consultants and health insurers say." (Workforce Management)
Findings From the 2008 EBRI Consumer Engagement in Health Care Survey
Excerpt: "In 2008, 3 percent of the population was enrolled in a consumer-driven health plan (CDHP), up from 2 percent in 2007 and 1 percent in 2006. . . . In 2008, HDHP enrollees continued to be more likely than traditional plan enrollees to report that they had delayed or avoided getting any needed health care services because of costs. But the difference between traditional plan enrollees and CDHP disappeared, mostly because more traditional plan enrollees reported access issues due to costs." (Employee Benefit Research Institute)
Will Consumer-Directed Health Plans Survive Obama Administration and Democratic Legislature Control?
Excerpt: "Some industry observers . . . suggest that CDH will be in the crosshairs of the new Congress. But others contend it has gained far too much momentum to be derailed." (Inside Consumer-Directed Care)
CDHPs Yield Modest Savings, Milliman Actuarial Review Concludes
Excerpt: "Consumer-driven health plans (CDHPs) yield cost savings that are 'only modestly better' than non-CDHPs, according to an actuarial study prepared by Milliman. In a summary of the study, published in Milliman's Benefits Perspectives, Summer/Fall 2008, issue, the actual savings found was 4.8% when compared with non-CDHP plans. Slightly more than 3% of that figure was due to utilization savings much like those that a similar high-deductible health plan would yield without the consumer tools, leaving 1.5% in additional savings, Milliman noted." (Wolters Kluwer)
Will Consumer-Directed Health Plans Survive Obama/Democratic Rule?
Excerpt: "Paul Fronstin, senior research associate at the Employee Benefit Research Institute in Washington, D.C., agrees that the Obama administration 'certainly won't be friendly toward HSAs, and is highly unlikely to support anything that expands them.' However, he says that with millions of Americans already enrolled in an account-based plan, it is 'highly unlikely that the administration will do anything to prohibit or stunt their growth.'" (AISHealth.com)
Plan Design and Active Involvement of Consumers in Their Own Health and Healthcare
Excerpt: "Objective: Underlying consumer-driven health plans (CDHPs) is the belief that the financial incentives, enhanced choices, and increased information will stimulate consumers to become active, informed managers of their own health and healthcare (ie, activated consumers). To examine this assumption, we assessed whether enrollees became more activated after enrolling in a CDHP and the degree to which those who were more activated adopted productive health behaviors. . . . Results: The hypothesis that enrollees in a CDHP become more activated over time was not supported. However, the data suggest that those who were more activated were more likely to engage in the behaviors that CDHPs seek to encourage and to newly adopt these behaviors over time. This appeared to be true regardless of plan type." (The American Journal of Managed Care)
Some Employers Viewing Consumer-Directed Health Plans as Retiree Savings Vehicles
Excerpt: "[T]he Towers Perrin survey of 321 of the nation's largest employers, covering 6.6 million employees, also suggests that large employers view CDH plans as a way to help their employees prepare for medical expenses in retirement. The final version of the report will be released in early January 2009. Towers Perrin says employers are viewing CDH plans as one solution to their continuing ability to offer affordable health benefits to their employees and, especially, retirees." (AISHealth.com)
CDHP, Version 2.0: Compliance-Driven health
Excerpt: "['Compliance-driven health' is defined] as 'both a patient's commitment to following accepted protocols of disease management [and] a health plan member's commitment to following accepted standards of wellness, health maintenance and improvement.'" (Employee Benefit News; free registration required)
Premium Hikes May Hit Small Firms That Adopt Consumer-Directed Health Plans for the Wrong Reason
Excerpt: "'People are buying these [CDH] plans for two reasons,' Jerry Ripperger, national practice lead for consumer health at Principal Financial Services, Inc., tells ICDC. 'Some believe in them and take a thoughtful, long-term strategic approach. Others adopt them without a carefully thought-out long-term strategy. They want the least expensive option, are looking for short-term savings, and they don't invest in anything that will change their employees' health behaviors. So at renewal time, their premiums look just like they did before.'" (AISHealth.com)
Investigating the Effectiveness of Consumer-Driven Health Plans (PDF)
Pages 5-7 of 12 pages. (Milliman)
New BCBSA Survey Finds Enrollment in CDHPs is Up; Consumers Are More Health and Cost Conscious
Excerpt: "According to an annual BCBSA survey, the number of consumers using Consumer Directed Health Plans (CDHP) has grown significantly since last year, and across all demographics. The survey findings, released at the Consumer Driven Healthcare Summit in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 20, found CDHP enrollment is up 25 percent and consumers enrolled in CDHPs were 30 percent more likely to track their health expenses than consumers in more traditional health insurance plans." (Blue Cross Blue Shield Association)
Report Shows Primary Care Doctors Have Limited Knowledge About Consumer-Driven Health Plans
Excerpt: "A large proportion of the nation's primary care physicians are not prepared to advise patients enrolled in consumer-driven health plans on such issues as coverage limitations and cost considerations, a new survey has found. In fact, 43 percent of the doctors responding to the survey, which was conducted by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program and published Wednesday, October 8, in the American Journal of Managed Care, said they have heard 'a little' or 'not at all' about consumer-driven health plans . . . ." (Workforce Management; free registration required)
Employer Health Benefits 2008 Annual Survey
Excerpt: "This annual survey of employers provides a detailed look at trends in employer-sponsored health coverage, including changes in premiums, employee contributions, cost-sharing provisions, and other relevant information. The survey continued to document the prevalence of high-deductible health plans associated with a savings option and included new questions on the wellness programs and retiree health benefits offered by employers." (Kaiser Family Foundation)
The True Cost of High-Deductible Health Plans for Communities of Color (PDF)
12 pages. Excerpt: "This issue brief discusses three serious concerns that make high-deductible health plans less helpful -- or even potentially harmful -- for racial and ethnic minorities: 1. Out-of-pocket costs in high-deductible plans are simply unaffordable for many racial and ethnic minorities. 2. The heavy costs of high-deductible plans will force many minorities to delay or avoid necessary care. 3. The barriers created by high-deductible plans will aggravate the health disparities that already plague many minority communities." (Families USA)
HSAs, FSAs, HRAs: Which Consumer Driven Health Care Option Should You Choose? (PDF)
2 pages. Updated for 2008 and 2009 Excerpt: "Unfortunately, many consumers and employers are confused about the differences between the various consumer-driven plans and which option would be best for them. The Council for Affordable Health Insurance (CAHI) has prepared this analysis [in chart form] in an effort to help people make informed choices." (The Councial for Affordable Health Insurance)
Health Savings Accounts and High-Deductible Health Plans: A Data Primer (PDF)
6 pages. Excerpt: "Before analysts can evaluate the effects of HSAs, they must decide which data source(s) to use. This primer provides basic guidance in that direction. The primer also provides the most recent data available from each source on enrollment, premiums and deductibes for HSAs, HSAs and HRAs combined, and HDHPs." (U.S. Congressional Research Service)
[Guidance Overview] Upon Establishing a Health Savings Account, Must Custodian/Trustee Ask for Proof the Individual Is Covered by a High-Deductible Health Plan?
Excerpt: "No. IRS Notice 2004-2, Q&A-10 indicates that an HSA custodian/trustee may require proof or certification that the individual is indeed covered by a high-deductible health plan but there is no requirement to do so." (Wolters Kluwer)
Number of Retail Clinics Rises With High-Deductible Health Plans
Excerpt: "Once the consumer-driven health plan market started to ignite, so did the retail clinic industry. Today, there are nearly 1,000 such sites operating in the U.S., compared with about 100 in 2006." (Workforce Management; free registration required)
California Companies and Brokers Tussle Over HRAs in Consumer Plans
Excerpt: "A dispute between health insurance companies in California and brokers could end a practice favored by small employers to save money on health coverage. The feud centers on employers' funding of health reimbursement arrangements with high-deductible health plans. Normally, high-deductible plans are used with health savings accounts, which are owned by employees and often partially funded by the employer to help defray an employee's health care costs." (Workforce Management; free registration required)
Battle Brewing Over High-Deductible Plans
Excerpt: "A contractual battle pitting major health insurers in California against brokers and employers casts a bright light on whether recent attempts to assist employees with high-deductible health plans in the face of rising medical costs defeats the purpose of helping them spend out-of-pocket dollars more wisely – a philosophical hallmark of the worksite market." (Employee Benefit News and SourceMedia, Inc.)
Answering Your Questions about Health Savings Accounts, Updated for 2008 and 2009 (PDF)
The questions and answers show how HSAs work and what they can mean for you. (Councial for Affordable Health Insurance)
Consumer-Driven Health Insurance Marketplace Continues to Grow
Excerpt: "According to Mercer, the percentage of all employers offering a consumer-driven health plan (CDHP) grew by one percentage point, from 6% to 7%, in 2007. Mercer also found that enrollment in CDHPs jumped from 3% to 5% of all covered employees, reflecting growing enrollment in existing plans, as well as the establishment of new plans." (Wolters Kluwer)
[Guidance Overview] IRS Guidance on Transfers from IRAs to HSAs
Excerpt: "Employees may now make a one-time, tax-free transfer from their individual retirement account (IRA) to their health savings account (HSA). . . . There is an exception to the one-time limit: Individuals who change from self-only, high-deductible health plan (HDHP) coverage to family HDHP coverage may make a second transfer within the same year." (Watson Wyatt Worldwide)
Lessons from the Evolution of 401(k) Retirement Plans for Increased Consumerism in Health Care: An Application of Behavioral Research (PDF)
28 pages. Excerpt: "Retirement and health benefits following a similar evolution: The private sector's shift away from 'traditional' company-financed pension plans toward individual 401(k) accounts illustrates how benefit decision-making and responsibility have shifted from the employer to the worker. The current trend in health care design toward 'consumer-driven' health plans illustrates the same trend with health benefits." (Employee Benefit Research Institute)
[Opinion] Written Statement on Impact of High Deductible Health Insurance and Health Savings Accounts on Consumers (PDF)
4 pages. Statement Before the Health Subcommittee Committee on Ways and Means, United States House of Representatives. Excerpt: "The potential for health savings accounts and encouragement of high deductible insurance to split the healthy from the sick and the rich from the poor is alarming. But of even greater concern is the distraction they pose to turning the full attention of policy makers and the health policy community toward the challenge of providing true health care security to all." (Consumers Union)
The Nuts and Bolts of Consumer Driven Health
Excerpt: "Russell Head, VP and partner at Augusta, Ga.-based Group and Benefits Consultants agrees. The health insurance industry has conditioned people to think about benefits backwards, he says. The current system's first line is co-pays and first-dollar benefits, then deductibles and finally out of pocket limits. Head says benefits should be approached in the opposite direction: first, out of pocket limits; second, deductibles; and finally, co-pays and first-dollar coverage." (Employee Benefit Advisor; free registration required)
More Employers Move to Integrate Incentives With Consumer-Directed Care Benefits
Excerpt: "'Anybody who implements an incentive program needs to be mindful of discrimination laws, regulations regarding HIPAA and all sorts of tax regulations,' . . . . Employers and health plans considering an incentive program should consult their legal counsel to make sure the proposed program is in compliance with state and federal laws . . . ." (AISHealth.com)
Financial Health Incentives on the Rise, but Design Is Key
Excerpt: "High-deductible health plans are the clearest examples of ways employers are trying to change employee behavior by making them more responsible for the cost of health care. But like other incentives, they are best utilized when employers also provide quality and cost information for doctors, hospitals and other services." (Workforce Management; free registration required)
[Guidance Overview] Question on Maximum Annual HSA Contribution Limits
Excerpt: "How do the maximum annual HSA contribution limits apply to an individual with family high-deductible health plan (HDHP) coverage if the family HDHP covers spouses or dependent children who also have coverage under a non-HDHP, Medicare, or Medicaid?" (Wolters Kluwer)
Creative Pairing of HSAs with Other Benefits Can Result in Synergies That Deliver Better Benefits and Coverages
Excerpt: "In the early days of HSAs, employers were trying to get their bearings in order to understand – and then utilize – this new savings vehicle. Now, a solid group of HSA devotees has begun pairing other products and programs with HSAs so employees can better maximize the advantages inherent in these plans. These pairings must take into account that HSA-eligible individuals must be covered by a high deductible health plan that meets IRS criteria and can have no other coverage that pays benefits before the IRS-established minimum deductible has been met." (Warner Norcross & Judd LLP)
[Opinion] Milliman's Consumer-Driven Impact Study Gets it Wrong
Excerpt: "A recent publication by Milliman, 'Consumer-Driven Impact Study' is another bizarre study. The biggest problem? The primary purpose of a consumer-driven health plan (CDHP) is to change utilization. These plans are designed to give consumers a reason to think twice about using health care services, so that excess utilization will be reduced. If you 'control for differences in utilization' you have eliminated the very thing CDHPs were designed to do. OF COURSE CDHPs reduce costs by reducing utilization. That is the whole point. A study that eliminates the utilization factor is useless." (Councial for Affordable Health Insurance)
[Guidance Overview] Employee Benefits Developments, June 2008 (PDF)
3 pages. This edition of the newsletter focuses on HSAs. (Hodgson Russ LLP)
[Guidance Overview] HSA Contribution Continuation Under Family-Coverage High-Deductible Health Plan
Excerpt: "The husband's HSA is no longer eligible to receive regular HSA contributions due to his enrollment in Medicare. His wife is covered under an HDHP, presumably is not covered under a non-HDHP, and is not enrolled in Medicare. She therefore remains eligible for contributions to an HSA in her name." (Wolters Kluwer)
New San Francisco Health Benefit Mandate May Force Employees Into Consumer-Directed Health Plans
Excerpt: "The legal challenges to the new law -- which mandates that employers spend a minimum amount on worker health care regardless of employment status -- is being closely watched throughout the country. Although the law does not require account-based benefits, a CDH approach may be the most prudent way for most small companies to comply." (AISHealth.com)
Comprehension and Choice of a Consumer-Directed Health Plan: An Experimental Study (PDF)
8 pages. Excerpt: "This study highlights the difficulty many consumers have in understanding comparative plan information. It also suggests that presentation strategies may help consumers understand choices better." (The American Journal of Managed Care)
[Guidance Overview] 2009 Minimums and Maximums for Health Savings Accounts Plans and High-Deductible Health Plans
Excerpt: "On May 13, 2008, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released Revenue Procedure 2008-29,1 which announced various inflation-adjusted amounts for 2009 for Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and High-Deductible Health Plans (HDHPs). The IRS calculates the annual adjustments using the 12-month period ending March 31." (The Segal Group, Inc.)
[Guidance Overview] Treasury, IRS Issue 2009 Contribution Limits for HSAs
Excerpt: "On May 13, the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service released Revenue Procedure 2008-29, which lists the new indexed amounts, adjusted for inflation, for high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) and health savings accounts (HSAs) under Internal Revenue Code section 223(g)." (JPMorgan Chase & Co.)
[Opinion] Myth vs. Fact: Consumer-Driven Health Plans
Excerpt: "'Consumer-driven health care' is the euphemism for high-deductible health plans with savings accounts. It is based on the theory that increased financial exposure will encourage patients to act like consumers, comparing quality and costs and negotiating lower prices. It also, according to the rhetoric, gives people greater control over their health care. Yet many experts paint a different picture." (Center for American Progress)
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