Brokers: Is it safe to say that, given the tremendous growth of high deductible health plans (HDHPs) that are paired with health savings account (HSAs), many of your clients have adopted these health care plans for their organizations hoping that their employees see that value in their flexibility?

And benefits managers: How was implementing the HDHP with an HSA plan? Did employees adopt the plan with excitement, or was there angst or resistance because it was something new, different, and scary?

Our guess is the change resulted in mixed results. As more and more employers offer HDHPs paired with HSAs, there is a perception among employees that you can no longer have a quality health care plan that is also affordable. Employees falsely believe that you need to compromise one for the other. Because of this belief, employees continue to be confused about HDHPs and HSAs and how to effectively use them.