A recent Health Affairs article http://content.healthaffairs.org * reported on Consumer Directed Health Plans, noting:“Consumer-directed health plans (CDHPs), which feature a high deductible and a personal health savings account, can reduce medical spending by employers and consumers.”
“Patients enrolled in CDHPs had fewer episodes of care over the same time period than patients enrolled in traditional plans. Furthermore, these patients were found to have fewer visits to specialists, fewer hospitalizations, and lower use of brand-name drugs — all of which lowered their costs.”
Crains explained “…new survey said that enrollees in CDHPs and high-deductible health plans were much more likely to report that they were not too satisfied, or not at all satisfied, with their health plan, according to the EBRI/MGA 2012 Consumer Engagement in Health Care Survey. People in a CDHP or an HDHP were less likely than those in a traditional plan to recommend their health plan to friends or co-workers, or to say they would stay with their current plan if they had the opportunity to switch. Satisfaction rates for out-of-pocket costs were much higher among those with traditional coverage than among those with either an HDHP or CDHP. “
* to read the full Health Affairs article “Growth Of Consumer-Directed Health Plans To One-Half Of All Employer-Sponsored Insurance Could Save $57 Billion Annually”, highlight and click on open hyperlink http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/31/5/1009.full?ijkey=phvPUpkkNlw9k&keytype=ref&siteid=healthaff