On Wed, Aug 12, 2009 at 11:32 AM, John Williams <jwilliams4...@gmail.com>wrote:
> > http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2009/08/consumer-drive-health-care-plans.html > > Alex Tabarrok wrote: > > |For about the last 10 years the United States has been experimenting > |with consumer driven health care plans. CDH plans typically combine > |a high-deductible insurance policy with a health savings account or > |health reimbursement account. CDH plans now cover well over 8 million > |individuals, up considerably from 4.5 million in 2007 and these types of > |plans continue to grow rapidly. So what have been the results? I can tell you the results for our family - run the other way. A high-deductible plan with an HSA is a nightmare if you get sick before you've had a chance to build up the HSA. It's fine if you're young and healthy and stay that way for a number of years to build up a cushion in your HSA. But if you get even a mildly serious illness in the first year of this kind of plan, as my wife did, it gets very expensive very fast. We emptied her HSA in a couple of days and she had to spend three more hospitalized. There needs to be some allowance for those who get seriously ill before they've had an opportunity to put money in the HSA. As for us, we're back to the more traditional plan with a lower deductible. Nick
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