This fall promises to be open season on healthcare accounts.

The hoped-for effect of Consumer Directed Healthcare programs such as HSAs is happening as there is strong evidence that they are having a significant impact on pricing.

Instead of double-digit premium increases, employers are seeing reduced healthcare costs by adopting CDH programs.

One straw in the wind is a major AON employer survey tracking premium trends in consumer-driven healthcare. It finds that CDH is now the best health insurance product in the U.S. for controlling employer premiums. CDH premiums for the coming year fell one full point to 12.4% versus 12.7% in PPOs and 12.9% in HMOs. CDH premiums had risen 14.7% two years ago and 13.7% last year, but were still reported by employers to be higher than PPO or HMO premiums.

For a major survey with almost all major carriers on a nationwide basis, this small percentage difference is huge.

Product Validity Shown

In effect, this means that consumer-driven healthcare is a valid product that could not only compete with PPOs, but could replace part of the group health insurance market with a more rational and sustainable model.

According to experts, the new data is a turning point in the health insurance industry and will inevitably be followed by similar trend studies in the next few months, and gives a big green light to companies selling CDH in the first quarter. Combined with another

national study out last week from McKinsey concluding that CDH is not a major danger to employers in terms of adverse risk selection, the coming fourth quarter open season among most large employers is virtually guaranteed to see faster CDH adoption among all-sized employers.