Consumer Driven Health Care Plans Are a Small but Growing Share of the Health Care Market

The Employee Benefit Research Institute has just released the 2008 EBRI Consumer Engagement in Health Care Survey. The results indicate that consumer driven health plans (CDHP) include 3 percent of the populations, up from 2 percent in 2007 and 1 percent in 2006. CDHPs generally have the following characteristics:

• They combine a high-deductible health plan (HDHP) with a tax-advantaged health reimbursement arrangement (HRA) or health savings account (HSA).



• The employer pays a fixed amount toward the employee's health care benefits



• Each employee controls an untaxed account that is used to pay health care bills



• Unspent money in the account accumulates for future years



• The account is accompanied by a high-deductible insurance policy that pays major expenses.



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