According to a report in today?s Charlotte Business Journal, a national survey of over 1,500 companies on the 6% rising cost of health care indicates ?19 percent of employers plan to avoid passing along that large an increase by offering a consumer-directed health plan next year.?
The Locke Foundation has long argued (here and here and here) that health savings accounts offer a market-based solution to the problem of rising health care costs. Most recently, in our Agenda 2008 under Health Care Reform recommendations: ?The state?s health plan for state employees and retirees should also include an HSA option to provide greater choice and help constrain the plan?s exploding costs.?
