Consumer Driven Health Care

Many brokers today remain skeptical that consumer-directed health plans will fulfill their promise. But they are missing the point: the connection between health and financial security is clear to employers and, increasingly, to their employees.

Some health care stocks remain volatile with the federal government considering a plan to cut spending and raise the nation's borrowing limit, according to a Jefferies analyst.

U.S. physicians continue to sell their private practices and look for work with health care systems, according to a new Accenture survey. By 2013, less than one-third of physicians are expected to remain truly independent.

While the recent McKinsey survey has received attention for stating one third of employers will drop health coverage after 2014, research from the Benfield Group offers a different perspective—that most employers will continue to offer comprehensive health insurance benefits to their employers.

Some Democrats are up in arms over a McKinsey survey reporting one third of employers will drop health coverage in 2014.

Enrollment in high-deductible health insurance plans that can help consumers save for medical expenses climbed 14 percent this year and has jumped 87 percent since January 2008, according to the trade association America's Health Insurance Plans.