Comments on: INSURANCE: Remler And Glied Respond To Reinhardt On HSAs http://healthaffairs.org/blog/2007/05/02/insurance-remler-and-glied-respond-to-reinhardt-on-hsas/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=insurance-remler-and-glied-respond-to-reinhardt-on-hsas The Policy Journal of the Health Sphere Thu, 24 May 2012 07:58:29 +0000 hourly 1 By: RobertBurney http://healthaffairs.org/blog/2007/05/02/insurance-remler-and-glied-respond-to-reinhardt-on-hsas/comment-page-1/#comment-2437 RobertBurney Thu, 03 May 2007 15:52:38 +0000 http://healthaffairs.org/blog/2007/05/02/insurance-remler-and-glied-respond-to-reinhardt-on-hsas/#comment-2437 Both these authors and Reinhardt desire to reduce heatlhcare expenditures. However, their discussions focus on the volume of healthcare services--not costs. It is possible to keep the volume of services constant and still reduce costs. It's called efficiency, and you accomplish this by introducing price competition at the individual healthcare service level. Estimates of waste in the healthcare system range from 25 to 50%, and that doesn't include unnecessary services--just operating costs. One hope for HSAs and HD plans was that cost conscious consumers would force price competition, but that has yet to be demonstrated. Both these authors and Reinhardt desire to reduce heatlhcare expenditures. However, their discussions focus on the volume of healthcare services–not costs. It is possible to keep the volume of services constant and still reduce costs. It’s called efficiency, and you accomplish this by introducing price competition at the individual healthcare service level.
Estimates of waste in the healthcare system range from 25 to 50%, and that doesn’t include unnecessary services–just operating costs.

One hope for HSAs and HD plans was that cost conscious consumers would force price competition, but that has yet to be demonstrated.

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