Controlling the Cost of Care:

Multiple studies, including this CIGNA study, demonstrate that giving patients control over their own healthcare dollars will actually lower the cost of healthcare by approximately 13% while increasing the use of preventive medicine.

Lower cost / higher deductable policies combined with Health Savings Accounts lower healthcare spending. They accomplish this by placing patients in control of their own healthcare dollars motivating them to ask two important questions:

            1) How much does this cost?
            2) Do I need this test?

When implemented by businesses, this strategy not only decrease healthcare sending without compromising access to care, it reduces the rate of growth of healthcare spending over time. Grace-Marie Turner of the Galen Institute presented this data to Congress:

 
Note the fourth column, CDHP. This stands for Consumer Driven Health Plan, another name for lower cost / higher deductible plans combined with Healthcare Savings Accounts. While the cost of other plans grew at an average of 7.34% per year over this two-year period the CDHP’s grew at an average rate of 2.7%.

Let’s assume for the sake of argument this was an unusually good two-year period for CDPD’s. Let’s assume they will actually grow at a rate of 4%. This still amounts to significant savings over time:

We often hear about “bending the curve.” There is a way to control the cost of healthcare without government rationing. If America could reduce even one fourth of its healthcare spending by even 10%, this will save $50 billion every year.