Aetna: CDHC Lowers Costs, Improves Care
Aetna compared six years of experience for 2.2 million Aetna members in traditional coverage and 400,000 in a HealthFund CDH plan. Its
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$7 million dollar savings per 10,000 insureds over 5 years is very low savings with HSA coverage. That’s only $140 a year savings per insured. The average cost for employer based health insurance is $400 a year for single coverage. HSA insurance for a 30-year-old male is only $60 a month in most states. The average savings should be more like $2,000 a year per employee, [plus] the tax savings because their is no payroll tax on employer HSA deposits. $2,000 X 10,000 employees = $20,000,000 per year or $100,000,000 over 5 years.
But that’s the difference between dangerous non-portable employer-based health insurance and the security of low cost portable HSA “individual insurance.” Aetna sure did a good job with their so-called statistics to make HSAs look less attractive than they really are.
Very interesting observation, Ron. I don’t think Aetna is even in the individual market.
That’s enough Aetna bashing. Aetna has been one of the most innovative companies in pushing the limits of consumer driven health care. We owe them a debt of gratitude.
Ron, you misunderstood the bullet. The $7 million savings applied to employers who offered HSAs as an option. So, some large portion of the group was not in HSAs, very likely 75% or so. Yet the WHOLE group still saved money. The savings of the HSA enrollees is spread over the whole group.
I think Aetna was also helpful in persuading the Treasury to make rulings favorable to HSA expansion.
Aetna Ceo Ron Williams has been very good on promoting CDHC in Congressional testimony and in public speeches.