CAHC’s Joel White spoke to Politico about legislation that aims to get more Americans into high-deductible insurance plans.
“We knew that the market could be electric. We just didn’t know how much current would be flowing through those wires,” said Joel White, a health care lobbyist and president of the Council for Affordable Health Coverage who helped draft the language creating high-deductible health plans in the 2003 Medicare Modernization Act when he was a Republican Ways and Means Committee aide.
He pointed to Indiana as an example of what states should be doing — rewarding people with cash for getting preventive care, like joining smoking cessation programs or getting an annual checkup.
The increased popularity of high-deductible plans comes as many insurers are raising premiums. People priced out of more expensive plans can trade down to high-deductible coverage — and hope they don’t get sick.