Greg Scandlen writes:

The RAND researchers we reviewed before have come out with a follow-up study in Health Affairs of the potential impact of consumer driven plans on the American health care system. This is “Growth Of Consumer-Directed Health Plans To One-Half Of All Employer-Sponsored Insurance Could Save $57 Billion Annually,” by Amelia M. Haviland, M. Susan Marquis, Roland D. McDevitt, and Neeraj Sood.

Most of the media reports have been reasonably accurate, see The Hill and The Washington Post, but have missed the real potential in the study. …

Are these savings due to selection? No, the authors controlled for that. …

Are “vulnerable populations” (high risk and/or low income) disadvantaged? They don’t seem to be.  …

Do people cut back on necessary care? Here it is hard to tell. …

[T]his kind of quality research may persuade the so-called “research community” to finally put aside their partisan opposition and begin to take this trend seriously. It is the future of health care.

Read the whole post: Consumer-Driven Health Plans Could Save $57.1 Billion per Year | John Goodman’s Health Policy Blog | NCPA.org.