Letter to the Editor

Your report, "Consumer-driven health plans get mixed reviews" (Dec. 9), rightly noted that consumer-driven health plans [which offer workers a fixed amount of money each year for health care] encourage smart shopping, as opposed to the all-you-can-use mentality of traditional health insurance.

However, I wish you'd mentioned how these cost savings are helping the uninsured and low-income as health care costs rise.

Around 40 percent of people purchasing individual Health Savings Account policies were previously uninsured. And 40 percent of health savings account purchasers make less than $50,000 a year. Health savings accounts are allowing many to buy health coverage when they couldn't afford to before.

SALLY C. PIPES
President and CEO
Pacific Research Institute
San Francisco