Another healthcare improvement?

These CDHPs sound similar to HSAs.

The NH Register article (by Brenda Marks) is fairly long, but was quite interesting. These CDHPs, along with HSAs, do seem as though they could help Connecticut and America with our healthcare woes, but they're not a cure for all our ills.

A benefit given in the article:

Health care expenses for Webster (Bank of Waterbury) were flat in 2005 and so far in 2006, and Webster expects a decline in 2007 as more employees enroll in the HSA, Murphy said. Nationwide, health care costs rose almost 10 percent in 2005 and so far have risen 7.7 percent this year.

A drawback given in the article:

However, if a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer in November and hadn't paid her first $1,000 deductible, she'd have to pay it as part of her treatment in the year she was diagnosed and then pay another $1,000 after the first of the
next year.

HSAs and CDHPs are by no means a quick fix for people who are living paycheck to paycheck. But we (the public and our elected officials) absolutely ought to be having a public dialog on these other remedies before we create a most likely, very expensive, universal healthcare system in Connecticut.

Tim White
State Rep candidate (R-89)
Bethany, Cheshire & Prospect
TimWhite98@yahoo.com