Consumer-driven health care: does it work? Short answer is "yes.".

• Position: Indiana SMALL * BUSINESS REFERENCE * GUIDE

Does consumer-driven health care work? The short answer is "yes."

Evidence suggests that a majority of those enrolled in high-deductible health plans are making better decisions with regard to how they access and purchase health care. Generic drug utilization is up, emergency-room visits are down and elective surgeries are down. People are using the power of the Internet to access information before making a purchasing decision. They are shopping for cost and value. They are becoming "true" consumers of health care.

In addition, a small but growing percentage of consumers are taking more aggressive action. They are making lifestyle changes with regard to proper nutrition, exercise, weight management, smoking cessation and preventive care. The results: lower health care cost trends and typically more moderate premium increases. As Kevin Bacon said in the movie "A Few Good Men," "those are the facts and they are undisputed."

However, that's not quite the whole story. Consumer-driven health care is a "wake-up call" that has evolved from many years of double-digit premium increases and an overindulgent public. It is estimated that approximately 26 percent of Hoosiers still smoke, and more than 50 percent are considered overweight or obese. The health-care balloon has finally popped. Employers simply cannot afford to keep paying for increases that outpace the growth of their primary businesses.

Over the last several years most employers have addressed escalating healthcare costs by reducing benefit levels and increasing employee contributions. This strategy resulted in lowered premiums, but did not address the real issue of what's causing the spike in health-care costs. At the same time, employees have become disgruntled as they continue to pay more for health care, but receive less in...