,Insurance Markets: Understanding Consumer-Directed Health Care in California

Insurance Markets: Understanding Consumer-Directed Health Care in California


 

Publication Date: August 2003

Publisher: California HealthCare Foundation

Author(s): Jon Gabel; Thomas Rice

Research Area: Health

Type: Brief

Coverage: California

Abstract:

Despite a shared interest among insurers and employers in exploring the potential of consumer-directed health plans, such coverage remains a rarity in California, a state that typically leads the nation with innovative health care models. This report examines consumer-directed health plans, which link consumers' health coverage choices to the financial consequences of those choices. If, for example, consumers choose a health plan that results in greater overall expenditures, they will have to pay more in premiums. This report explains how the products work, identifies the industry players behind them, and discusses the factors likely to influence their growth.