Health Savings Accounts are slow to catch on in replacing co-pay insurance.

Publication: Salt Lake Tribune (Salt Lake City, UT)

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COPYRIGHT 2004 The Salt Lake Tribune

Byline: Linda Fantin

Oct. 24--Every so often an idea comes along that revolutionizes an industry, and health insurance companies believe this is their year.

The medical breakthrough, they say, is the Health Savings Account, a cousin to the 401(k) with better tax benefits.

The accounts are tax-free and tied to health plans with high deductibles. Policy holders pay up front for doctor visits, prescriptions and trips to the dentist from the accounts, and any unused money rolls over from year to year.

High deductibles -- they start at $1,000 per person and $2,000 per family -- keep the policies cheap and, as a result, employers can afford to pay more of an employee's premium or finance a portion of the accounts. Insurance companies catch a break when coverage is reserved for catastrophic costs. And consumers, suddenly responsible for more of their medical bills, have an incentive to stay healthy or at least not to go to the doctor for every ache and pain.

That's the sales pitch, anyway. And with October being the time when employers re-evaluate their health plans, insurers are pitching hard. Two weeks ago, Regence Blue Cross Blue Shield of Utah summoned business owners and insurance brokers...

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