So, I'm taking a time out today. (Hope that's OK.)

While everyone else argues over last night's election results,the House bill, the GOP alternative and Meghan McCain's Twitteraccount, I think I'll take a step back today.

A new survey caught my eye this morning and I thought I'd share.It deals with the now-threatened consumer-driven health caremarket. You know, that entire segment of our industry that no oneis D.C. seems to give a damn about.

According the big brains over at the Employee Benefit ResearchInstitute, there seems to be a shift in the consumer-drivenmarketplace. Based on their numbers, among the 4 percent or so ofcovered Americans with these health plans, employer contributionsare shifting, with workers with employee-only coverage watchingtheir annual employer contributions drop, while those with familycoverage enjoy increased annual employer contributions.

Overall, the survey reports, while the number of employeesenrolled in these plans remains relatively small, the market isgrowing steadily, "with 4 percent of the adult population withprivate health insurance was enrolled in an HRA or had ahigh-deductible plan with an HSA, up 1 percentage point from theprevious year. An additional 4.9 percent were eligible for an HSAbut did not have such an account. Overall, 8.9 percent of adultswith private insurance were either in a consumer-driven health planor were in a high-deductible plan that was eligible for an HSA, buthad not opened an account."

It's also worth noting that this market also enjoys growth inother areas, such as average rollover amounts, time spent in theseplans and overall account balances.

So while those Beltway suits preach about evils of our industryand the ineptitude of the people we serve, I thought it might helpif today, we let them know that we know better.