Consumerism

Consumer-directed benefits, like managed care, are buzz words with broad, but important relevance for employers. Today's trend toward consumerism attempts to inject something that's been missing from health benefits — a consumer who cares more about cost and quality.

The premise behind consumerism is that by providing financial incentives and information to employees, corporations can encourage them to assume a greater role in managing their own healthcare and the associated costs. High-deductible health insurance products are perhaps the most widely publicized component of the early consumerism models. They are structured to provide more transparency in health costs, with the intention of enabling employees to make more value-driven healthcare decisions.

However, since a high percentage of healthcare dollars are accounted for by a small percentage of high-cost claimants, consumer-directed health plans alone will not provide the solution. Other components of consumerism need to be included, such as preventive services, wellness and disease management programs, and communications designed to provide employees with more information regarding the quality and costs of the providers they visit and the services they use.

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