Study: Consumer-Driven Health Plans Could Cut Costs
Consumer-directed health insurance plans -- which offer high-deductible coverage and often feature a health savings account -- could reduce health spending by as much as $57 billion annually if 50% of the U.S. workforce signed up for them, according to a RAND study published Monday in the journal Health Affairs. However, researchers expressed uncertainty about whether the cutbacks in care that CDPs trigger could lead to poorer health or health emergencies in the future.
- "Study: Savings And Risks in Health Insurance Trend" (Alonso-Zaldivar, AP/San Francisco Chronicle, 5/7).
- "Study: Market-Driven Plans Could Lower Health Care Costs" (Viebeck, "Healthwatch," The Hill, 5/7).