They may (and should) even insist on cash discounts
By its nature, insurance restricts choice, rewarding some providers and penalizing others. Traditional insurance rewards traditional medicine and traditional pharmaceuticals. As health savings accounts become more common, consumers will have more choice. Depending on how HSA plans are written, HSAs may enable consumers to choose to spend healthcare dollars on alternative medicine treatments such as massage, acupuncture, and Pilates classes. They may enable reimbursement of supplements such as herbs, vitamins, and hormone therapies. They may even cover spas, health clubs, and weight loss programs. Psychotherapy, which is often only covered at 50% and then only with managed care authorization, would no longer be capped or micromanaged. Personal coaching might even be covered.
HSAs save money by greatly reducing (but not eliminating) the bureaucratieaucratic overhead. They give the consumer more choice. They will ultimately separate employment from healthcare, making it easier to change jobs. The primary downside is that employees often see HSAs as an attempt by management to cut costs by reducing benefits (as is sometimes the case). Paul Zane Pilzer says 90% of people can purchase healthcare insurance for half of what it cost employers and once purchased it cannot be cancelled or raised beyond normal cost increases. This can be a wonderful solution to many individuals, especially those who currently do not have healthcare insurance. At a macro level, however, it is a shell game as costs for the 10% with serious health problems are shifted to government funding.
There is an terrible inequity in the current system in that those who pay cash (relieving the healthcare practitioners of large, cumbersome billing expenses) end up paying more as they don’t get the discounts insurance companies demand
As you have probably gathered, my libertarian penchant likes HSAs while my ultimate preference would be insurance for catastrophic events and out of pocket payment for everything else.ادامه خواندن