The GOP Health Savings Accounts are a failure - not effective/as satisfying as traditional, too much

[papau]

The GOP Health Savings Accounts are a failure - not effective/as satisfying as traditional, too much high financial risk


There is a new Towers Perrin research paper http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20070522005472&newsLang=en that reveals that Health Savings Account (HSA) work only for the GOP's Insurance Company campaign contributors who are into asset accumulation management and the fees that can be earned with HSA's and all the variations of HSAs now called account-based health plans (ABHPs), or “consumer-driven health plans.” The good news for the GOP is the fact these conclusions are only the results of polling one thousand employees who are either currently enrolled in consumer health plans or have an consumer health plans as an option but chose a traditional plan - so there may be a 4 or 5% "margin of error" in the results. Then again Towers Perwin's Dave Guilmette, Managing Director of Towers Perrin’s Health and Welfare practice, says, “ABHPs have lowered health care costs for employers but the widespread confusion and dissatisfaction reported by employees are key indicators that the conditions for long-term success are not yet in place...Any consumer product that scored as low as ABHPs do in terms of customer satisfaction and understanding would be significantly retooled or pulled from the shelves." But employers sure do save money.

Employees using ABHPs are significantly less satisfied with many elements of the health benefit plan compared to those enrolled in traditional health benefit plans. As compared to traditional health benefit plan participants, ABHP members are less comfortable with the
level of financial risk their plan exposes them to, less likely to understand how the plan works, less favorable about how easy it is to use the plan, less favorable about the clarity of communication around benefit change and less satisfied with the basic elements of their
plans.

I guess the GOP would say that other than the above, workers must like the change from tradional health care - yea - right. Those short term financial savings that randomly develop should no doubt be more appreciated in the GOP's view. But there is good news for the GOP - if the employer does a lot of constant selling of the plan to the point where the employees are convinced they understand and are talked into feeling comfortable with the level of perceived financial risk associated with the plan, they better utilize the plan and its resources. In other words, if you point out that is the only plan they have - they use it, even if they are less satisfied, compared to traditional health benefit plan participants, with the basic elements of their plans - including access to affordable, quality health care. Indeed if it is all you have, some will try to use it instead of giving up and going to the ER and not paying the bill. In this case, 29% are trying to reserve account money for future financial protection and 16% use the health plan to save for health care expenses. Any question why the health of the population of the wealthiest country in the world is below that of 30 or more other industrialized nations - and indeed at 3rd world levels for many health care results statistics?

But of course we plan to underfund Medicare in the future, so where else but an HSA should one put money to fund your health care when you are retired? So all the GOP/Corporate world needs to do is gain your employees trust and convince them of what a great benefit they are getting with their employers contribution toward their HSA account. Indeed "increase their time horizon" so that they understand that if they never get sick and never pay for preventive health care, they will have all that retirement money. So what is the health of the population as a whole will suffer if everyone is avoiding preventive care - there is all that money at retirement.

[aquart]

1. Good lord, was there any doubt?

Not one positive action for the American people. Not one. Every initiative a scam. Every piece of legislation nothing more than legalization of theft.

[papau]

4. An Indiana Health Ins co not selling pensions/annuities wanted to be in asset accumulation

business without starting a pension/annuity line.

Their GOP Senator was bought and he forced the tax deductible asset accumulation for health bill to pass and we now have HSA'a.

It is so easy to hate health insurance companies.

[aquart]

5. Yes, it is.

[antigop]

6. Wasn't Golden Rule one of the big proponents of HSAs? n/t

[Joe Bacon]

7. Yes

Google "Golden Rule insurance" and see how they don't follow it!

[Sal316]

2. I agree HSA's suck

My work switched to an HSA this year. Because of the plan structure change, my monthly insurance payments went up about 116%. This is not only because the premium increased, but because in order for my HSA to be usable, I have to put money into it.

That's the part most people seem to not get...you not only have to buy the insurance, you have to fund your HSA as well in order to use it.

[madrchsod]

3. where i used to work they offered one but

it was so bad and you had to lie to be covered that no one picked it up...my daughter has a 300 dollar limit on her`s which would cover about three doctors visits which she get`s a 80% deductible anyway. the 300 dollars can`t be used for anything else...