Read on Twitter
The bull case on the consumerization of healthcare in the US seems to assume that healthcare $ shift from the insurers to the consumer, via an HDHP + HSA. But how realistic is this, and over what timeframe?
In 2008 Clayton Christensen published “The Innovator’s Prescription”. He was a big proponent of the HDHP+HSA model. In it, he predicted that HDHP+HSAs would supplant 50% of comprehensive health coverage by 2013 and 90% by 2016.
However, per the Kaiser Family Foundation, in 2020 only 31% of workers were enrolled in an HDHP, and this number is only 2 percentage points higher than in 2016. So growth isn’t exactly strong in this segment. https://www.kff.org/slideshow/2020-employer-health-benefits-chart-pack/
Further, for workers to become consumers, they need some cash in that HSA. A study last year showed that 33% of workers with an HDHP did not have an HSA, and 55% of those who did had not contributed to it in the past 12 months. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2768344
I really like the premise of giving the consumer more power in healthcare but in order to get there via the HDHP+HSA route, there's a struggle against the perception that these plans just push costs from the employer onto the consumer.
Interested in other folks' viewpoints. What am I missing or overlooking?
