Enrollment in consumer-directed or high-deductible health plans eligible for a tax-preferred savings account increased to 9.8 million adults this year, with participants more likely to have higher incomes and be in better health than those with traditional health coverage, according to survey results released by the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI).
In addition, the fourth annual survey found that those in consumer-directed and high-deductible plans exhibited more cost-conscious behavior in their healthcare decision making than individuals with traditional health insurance. Results of the EBRI Consumer Engagement in Health Care Survey appear in the November 2008 EBRI Issue Brief.
Consumer-directed plans, which involve high deductibles coupled with tax-favored savings accounts that consumers can use to pay for their care out of pocket, are intended to make consumers more active participants in decisions about their health care, including cost issues. In recent years, employers have turned to consumer-directed plans as a way of managing rising health insurance premiums, writes Paul Fronstin, director of the EBRI health research and education program and author of the Issue Brief.
Read the report.
