Market Share of Health Plans
PPO plans enroll three-in five covered workers in 2006, followed by HMO plans. POS plans, and then HDHP/SOS and conventional plans.
With the highest enrollment, PPO plans cover 60% of covered workers. HMO plans cover 20% of covered workers, POS plans cover 13% of covered workers, and HDHP/SOs and conventional plans cover 4% and 3% of covered workers, respectively.
Plan enrollment patterns differ across regions.
Lower percentages of covered workers are enrolled in HMO plans in the Midwest and in the South, 16% and 17% respectively. In contrast, HMO enrollment is significantly higher (29%) in the West than in all other regions. A higher percentage of covered workers are enrolled in PPO plans in the Midwest (66%), and fewer are enrolled in the West (51%). For POS plans, enrollment is lowest in the Midwest at 10%.
Finally, covered workers are less likely to be enrolled in an HDHP/SO in the Northeast (2%) and more likely to be enrolled in an HDHP/SO in the Midwest (6%)
The Kaiser Family Foundation and Health Research and Educational Trust 2006 Annual Survey
A recent study found:
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People who have the plans find them a good way to pay for co-pays, dental care, or special procedures that can be scheduled to match their contributions drupal hosting service. People with more serious illnesses who have predictable costs also benefit significantly.
Policymakers tend to dislike flexible spending accounts. According to this view, they unnecessarily complicate the tax code, and the use-it-or-lose-it provision encourages people to spend money on health care they don’t really need. Because income taxes are progressive, the benefits of saving in an FSA go to higher earners and are negligible for people with low income.
The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, a left-leaning public-policy think tank, published a paper in June saying that health care reform should curtail flexible spending accounts . That would increase tax revenues to the federal government, which could be used to pay for subsidies for the uninsured.
“The average FSA benefit is a few hundred bucks,” said Chuck Marr, the center’s director of federal tax policy. He said that’s small potatoes and that Congress should focus more a sweeping reform bill. “In a world where resources are limited, this bill is trying to give coverage to people who don’t have any.”