Your report rightly noted that consumer-driven health plans encourage smart shopping, as opposed to the all-you-can-use mentality of traditional health insurance ("Survey says many wary of 'consumer' health trend," Dec. 9).
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 HSA purchasers make less than $50,000 a year. HSAs are allowing many to buy health coverage when they couldn't afford to before.
SALLY C. PIPES San Francisco President & CEO Pacific Research Institute
--------------------------------------------------------- Sally C. Pipes is president and chief executive officer of the Pacific Research Institute and author of "Miracle Cure: How to Solve America's Health Care Crisis and Why Canada Isn't the Answer." She can be reached at spipes@pacificresearch.org.
