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WASHINGTON - Rep. Tom Petri has been urging his colleagues to protect consumer-driven health plans such as those successfully used by Manitowoc County. At about 5 a.m. Friday, the House Education and Labor Committee agreed to a Petri amendment to allow these plans to continue as part of the massive health care overhaul currently racing through the House.
Petri explained that in recent years, health care consumption has become increasingly consumer-driven. Individuals have welcomed the opportunity to take greater responsibility for decisions regarding their health care.
At the forefront of this shift in how workers consume and pay for their health care are Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) combined with low-premium High Deductible Health Plans and similar arrangements. Participants, and often their employers, contribute tax-exempt income into HSAs from which they can withdraw funds to pay normal medical bills. If a year's expenses are less than the amount deposited in the account, the balance is then rolled over to help pay future expenses. This balance is owned by the consumer, providing a powerful incentive to control health care spending.
If a major medical expense comes along, a High Deductible plan provides coverage for catastrophic bills.
"HSAs covered 8.1 million Americans as of this past January," said Petri. "This is an increase of 31 percent over the past year. This is clearly an approach which works for people."
Petri said that consumer-directed health plans give patients control over their care, free of excess government control. They also encourage patients to be cost-effective and seek preventive care, track their health care costs, and save for future expenses.
"In 2007, facing exploding health care costs, Manitowoc County began to offer an HSA/high deductible plan to county employees," Petri said. "According to the Office of the County Executive, in 2008 the minimum annual employee cash savings from these plans was $2,177 and the annual savings to the county per employee was almost $6,000."
Petri noted that in the 2009 Manitowoc County Budget, County Executive Bob Ziegelbauer reports that because of the County's consumer-driven plan, "employees will be wealthier benefiting from dramatically reduced out of pocket costs for health care coupled with a valuable long term savings plan for their future; and healthier because of the many incentives for preventative care for wellness program that will benefit them directly. For taxpayers, the good news is that we will spend much less on health insurance in 2009 than we would have if this change had not been made".
However, the health care overhaul making its way through Congress threatened to impose numerous mandates and regulations on both individuals and employers, possibly rendering consumer-driven plans unworkable.
In an all-night session of the Education and Labor Committee, Rep. Petri offered an amendment to make clear that group health plans which include consumer-driven plans, including HSAs paired with high-deductible coverage, and other similar approaches, would be considered "acceptable coverage" under the Democrats' health care plan.
"I am quite pleased that my amendment was approved," said Petri. "It means a better bill. There are still too many problems with the overall plan for me to support it, but it's good to make improvements where possible."
The Education and Labor Committee ultimately approved the bill by 26 to 22, with Petri voting "no."
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