Aetna Releases Results of 5 year Health Study of Consumer Driven Health Plans

A study of 2.6 million Aetna members (410,000 in an Aetna HealthFund® plan) shows that Aetna HealthFund offers sustained savings for employers over a five-year period, with members getting the care they need. The results also showed that Aetna HealthFund members are seeking increased levels of preventive care, using generic drugs more often and accessing online tools and information at higher rates than PPO members, while experiencing lower annualized medical cost increases.

If you are not familiar with the term “Consumer Driven Health Plan,” it refers to high deductible plans such as HSA’s (Health Savings Accounts) and HRA’s (Health Reimbursement Accounts). “More skin in the game” is what we call it, putting more of the cost and responsibility on the consumer or business owners to reduce premiums.
If you haven’t noticed, high deductible plans are really the future of health care.

Gone are the days when you can go to the doctor for a check up and pay only $10 or $20 (unless of course you work at GM or for the teacher’s union). Now in order to save money, you must pay either an in-network deductible or out-of-network deductible for health care services.

The insurance companies are beating their drums telling everyone that the only way to save money on health insurance is to “share the cost with them” and people are listening. What choice do we have? Health insurance rates have gone up over 90% over the last 10 years. Aetna’s study confirms that if you put more responsibility on the consumer, they will look for other ways to save money.