Hm, it is interesting that only 20 percent of employers participate in a best in market approach. The number of firms that have a coalition based one is about the same. I wonder how their expenditures match up.
This is terrific! Hopefully these numbers will only conitue to grow.
@Alex, each percentage is supposed to be over 100%….meaning, for instance, 38% (out of 100%) of employers now offer HMO plans to their employees. Hope this helps.
I believe that paired with patients being effectively informed, this could be a great step forward. This trend could have been predicted from a Forbes article from 2009, which details plans that allow consumers to create a budget and comparison shop online:
Humana, like some other health insurers, is making the most of the fact that consumers have become comfortable with using the Internet to comparison shop and sort through all kinds of purchasing decisions. McCallister said his company is trying to help its members get smarter right from the start about what level of coverage works best for them by providing easy-to-understand Internet tools, including a “Family Health Budget” tool that predicts their health costs for the year.
After selecting a plan, members can then register on a Web site and do a personal health assessment. If a particular problem is noted, a Humana nurse is alerted, who contacts the patient to talk about seeing a doctor. Members can go online to look up quality information on doctors and hospitals in the Humana network, and even use a Humana-issued debit card to tap into a health savings account and pay their portion of the bill when they go to see a doctor. All the pieces related to cost and quality are tied into one Internet site.
If “voucher” is a bad word (apparently not in most folks’ everyday vocabulary), then “Savings Account” and “Education Tax Credit” are certainly warm and fuzzy alternates.
Hm, it is interesting that only 20 percent of employers participate in a best in market approach. The number of firms that have a coalition based one is about the same. I wonder how their expenditures match up.
@ Jordan
This will probably change as employers provide more financial incentives.
Forgive me if I’m not seeing this correctly, but doesn’t all that add up to more than 100%?
This is terrific! Hopefully these numbers will only conitue to grow.
@Alex, each percentage is supposed to be over 100%….meaning, for instance, 38% (out of 100%) of employers now offer HMO plans to their employees. Hope this helps.
The number will grow as employers continue to see the benefit of offering CDHC plans
And as employees start to see the benefits! Is there are way to hasten this change?
I believe that paired with patients being effectively informed, this could be a great step forward. This trend could have been predicted from a Forbes article from 2009, which details plans that allow consumers to create a budget and comparison shop online:
http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/19/health-care-humana-entrepreneurs-law-taxation-humana.html
Very interesting, I expect to see this percentage increase.
Tangential to this post, the school choice movement is now promoting Education Savings Accounts:
http://www.edchoice.org/Research/Reports/The-Way-of-the-Future–Education-Savings-Accounts-for-Every-American-Family.aspx
If “voucher” is a bad word (apparently not in most folks’ everyday vocabulary), then “Savings Account” and “Education Tax Credit” are certainly warm and fuzzy alternates.