Health Affairs, 25, no. 6 (2006): w552-w554 (Published online 24 October 2006) doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.25.w552 © 2006 by Project HOPE	New Online   New Issue: China & India   Obesity In China   Pay Cuts For Medicare Docs   Access To Care Woes

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Consumer-Directed Health Care: It’s Not Whether The Glass Is Half-Empty, But Why

Analyses of consumer-directed health plans often focus on how use of services under such a plan compares with what use would have been under a more comprehensive benefit design. That’s a natural perspective for analysts who observe movement from a world of rich coverage to one of more limited coverage. But the comparison may confuse the message with the messenger. In a world where employers are seeking any port in a storm of unsustainable cost growth, it might be more useful to compare offering a consumer-directed plan to other options that employers could have chosen in constraining health costs.

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