HSA Tool For Employers And Their Employees
STREETWISE HSA is a great tool for employers and their employees to maximize the benefits of Health Savings Accounts (HSA). Click on the logo above and check out all of the tools and information available.
Get quotes for individual/family health insurance in Arizona here. Contact us today at 602-510-7507 to find out how an HSA can benefit you.
IQ Financial Group, llc. is a licensed insurance agency in the state of Arizona. We offer a complete selection of health insurance, term life insurance, disability insurance, long term care insurance and supplement plans to individuals, families, self-employed and small businesses throughout Arizona. We offer the best in Arizona Health Insurance.
© IQ Financial Group, llc.
Customer-Driven Medicine: How To Create A New Health Care System
Darrell M. West, Vice President and Director, Governance Studies
The Brookings Institution
Executive Summary
Thursday, October 08, 2009
10:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Washington, DC
Health care today is dominated by physicians, hospitals, the pharmaceutical industry, insurance companies, and government agencies. Patients seek to navigate their health care by moving across a variety of providers, ordering prescription drugs from pharmacies, and seeking reimbursement from either public or private insurance plans. They spend hours connecting the dots and working out the best health care for themselves and their families. If they are fortunate to have good providers and effective follow-through, they receive high-quality health care.
Imagine a different system where, with the aid of the Internet, electronic medical records, cell phones, and personalized health care, the patient is in charge. People monitor their own weight, blood pressure, pulse, and sugar levels, and send test results via remote devices to health care providers. Patients store their medical records online and have access regardless of where they are in the United States or around the world. They get personalized feedback via e-mail and reminders when they gain weight, have an uptick on their cholesterol levels, don’t take their medicine, or have high blood pressure. Social networking sites provide discussion forums and the benefit of collective experience from other people suffering similar problems. Patients take responsibility for their routine health care and rely on physicians and hospitals for more serious medical conditions.
This system is not a futuristic vision, but is well within our grasp. It would cut costs by reducing professional responsibility for routine tasks and record-keeping, while also making it possible for patients to receive higher quality care and be more satisfied with the end-result. The technologies for this kind of system transformation currently are available through cell phones, remote monitoring devices, video conferencing, and the Internet.
In this paper, I outline a vision for a new health care system based on mobile Health (mHealth), remote monitors, electronic medical records, social networking sites, video conferencing, and Internet-based recordkeeping. It incorporates email reminders to take medicine, a NetFlix-style mechanism to rate experiences with doctors and hospitals, and websites that make ratings publicly available to employers and other patients. Today, there are nearly as many mobile phones (600 million) in existence that can browse the Internet and access email as there are personal computers (800 million).
In order to bring this system to fruition, though, several changes are needed to encourage customer-driven health care. There have to be shifts in public policy and private health care that get the incentives right for patients, physicians, insurers, and hospitals. If we make these changes, we can cut costs while also improving quality and public satisfaction with health care.
Among the specific changes that are required include:
- changes in public and private insurance coverage that reimburse health care providers for mHealth care, remote monitoring, electronic communications with physicians, e-prescribing, and downloading medical tests to cell phones and other mobile devices;
- rewarding physicians who provide positive health outcomes for their patients, as opposed to paying them for the quantity of tests they have ordered;
- greater patient encouragement for preventive health care, good diet, and regular exercise activities and creation of a Preventive Medicine Fund that covers gym memberships, exercise equipment, flu shots, diet advice, smoking cessation programs, and substance abuse treatment;
- development of a good health rewards program similar to good driver discounts that provides benefits to patients who lead healthy lifestyles.
Related Content
Digital Health and Participatory Medicine
Darrell M. West, The Kojo Nnamdi Show, August 12, 2009
Darrell M. West, Reuters, July 10, 2009
Traditional PPO Plan Compared To HSA PPO Plan
The following comparison was done for a family of four who was currently covered by a traditional PPO plan with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona.
Blue Cross PPO plan
$2500 individual deductible
80/20% coinsurance
With this plan your family could have a maximum out of pocket of $17,000 not including any copays you incurred during the same year ($2500 deductible x 2/family members=$5000; 20% coinsurance with an individual maximum of $3000/member x 4 family members=$12000). Obviously this would be a worst case scenario if all of you maxed out the benefits in the same year.
United HealthOne/Golden Rule HSA 100 Plan
$5000 family deductible
100% coinsurance
With this plan your family could have a maximum out of pocket of $5,000 total because all of your expenses during the year count towards meeting your family deductible ($5000 family deductible=$5000; 100% coinsurance after that means your maximum out of pocket for the year cannot exceed the $5000 family deductible). With this plan the deductible can be met by one member of the family or by any combination of family members with claims totaling $5000.
As you can see from an out of pocket stand point there is no comparison between a traditional PPO plan with copays and an HSA plan. The next thing to compare would be the premium. Current plan with Blue Cross the premium is $850/month. The above HSA plan premium for your family would be $433/month saving you $417/month ($5004/year) of which you could contribute all or a part of to a health savings account to use for your out of pocket expenses.
In this example if you deposited all of the premium savings to a HSA you would have enough in the first year to cover your total out of pocket exposure on the HSA 100 plan.
In summary by making this change you would be reducing the out of pocket exposure by several thousand dollars per year ($12,000) and using the same dollars you are currently spending on premiums to not only pay premiums but also pay your out of pocket expenses for several years to come.
Get quotes for individual/family health insurance in Arizona here. Contact us today at 602-510-7507 to find out how an HSA can benefit you.
IQ Financial Group, llc. is a licensed insurance agency in the state of Arizona. We offer a complete selection of health insurance, term life insurance, disability insurance, long term care insurance and supplement plans to individuals, families, self-employed and small businesses throughout Arizona. We offer the best in Arizona Health Insurance.
© IQ Financial Group, llc.
Arizona Department Of Insurance
The mission of the Arizona Department of Insurance is to faithfully execute the state insurance laws in a manner that protects insurance consumers and encourages economic development. Click to be directed to AZDOI.
Get quotes for individual/family health insurance in Arizona here. Contact us today at 602-510-7507 to find out how an HSA can benefit you.
IQ Financial Group, llc. is a licensed insurance agency in the state of Arizona. We offer a complete selection of health insurance, term life insurance, disability insurance, long term care insurance and supplement plans to individuals, families, self-employed and small businesses throughout Arizona. We offer the best in Arizona Health Insurance.
© IQ Financial Group, llc.
Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS)
Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) is Arizona’s Medicaid agency that offers health care programs to serve Arizona residents. Individuals must meet certain income and other requirements to obtain services. Click here for more information about AHCCCS.
Get quotes for individual/family health insurance in Arizona here. Contact us today at 602-510-7507 to find out how an HSA can benefit you.
IQ Financial Group, llc. is a licensed insurance agency in the state of Arizona. We offer a complete selection of health insurance, term life insurance, disability insurance, long term care insurance and supplement plans to individuals, families, self-employed and small businesses throughout Arizona. We offer the best in Arizona Health Insurance.
© IQ Financial Group, llc.
WebMD Better Information. Better Health.
WebMD provides valuable health information, tools for managing your health, and support to those who seek information. Click here to begin accessing information.
Get quotes for individual/family health insurance in Arizona here. Contact us today at 602-510-7507 to find out how an HSA can benefit you.
IQ Financial Group, llc. is a licensed insurance agency in the state of Arizona. We offer a complete selection of health insurance, term life insurance, disability insurance, long term care insurance and supplement plans to individuals, families, self-employed and small businesses throughout Arizona. We offer the best in Arizona Health Insurance.
© IQ Financial Group, llc.
Michael Porter, Harvard Business School Professor on Health Care Reform
Get quotes for individual/family health insurance in Arizona here. Contact us today at 602-510-7507 to find out how an HSA can benefit you.
IQ Financial Group, llc. is a licensed insurance agency in the state of Arizona. We offer a complete selection of health insurance, term life insurance, disability insurance, long term care insurance and supplement plans to individuals, families, self-employed and small businesses throughout Arizona. We offer the best in Arizona Health Insurance.
© IQ Financial Group, llc.
Toby Cosgrove, Cleveland Clinic President & CEO – Reform Model
Get quotes for individual/family health insurance in Arizona here. Contact us today at 602-510-7507 to find out how an HSA can benefit you.
IQ Financial Group, llc. is a licensed insurance agency in the state of Arizona. We offer a complete selection of health insurance, term life insurance, disability insurance, long term care insurance and supplement plans to individuals, families, self-employed and small businesses throughout Arizona. We offer the best in Arizona Health Insurance.
© IQ Financial Group, llc.
Aetna CEO On Health Care Reform
Get quotes for individual/family health insurance in Arizona here. Contact us today at 602-510-7507 to find out how an HSA can benefit you.
IQ Financial Group, llc. is a licensed insurance agency in the state of Arizona. We offer a complete selection of health insurance, term life insurance, disability insurance, long term care insurance and supplement plans to individuals, families, self-employed and small businesses throughout Arizona. We offer the best in Arizona Health Insurance.
© IQ Financial Group, llc.
Healthcare Blue Book
The Healthcare Blue Book offers a number of free resources to help you learn how to be an informed consumer, and enable you to make good decisions for your health and pocketbook.
You may choose to learn more about how to understand and document your medical needs, how to use the Healthcare Blue Book to find a fair price, how to ask your healthcare provider about getting the best possible price or how to understand and use your insurance benefits.
IQ Financial Group, llc. is a licensed insurance agency in the state of Arizona. We offer a complete selection of health insurance, term life insurance, disability insurance, long term care insurance and supplement plans to individuals, families, self-employed and small businesses throughout Arizona. We offer the best in Arizona Health Insurance.
© IQ Financial Group, llc.