A Rising Tide�

They say that a rising tide lifts all ships. The idea is that when good things happen, everyone benefits.

And that may well be the case with Empowered Consumer Heath Plans (yeah, I got tired of the HDHP acronym; alternate suggestions welcome):

According to ehealthinsurance, these plans are growing in popularity with young consumers and middle-income consumers. �The percentage of HSA-compatible plan purchasers who are ages 20 to 29 increased to 28% in 2005, from 20%, while the percentage in the 30-39 and 40-49 age categories fell.� In other words, younger folks are flocking to these plans, while those who should be in their prime earning years seem to be shying away.

That seems strange to me.

We�ve blogged before about this fallacy of the uninsured: that many of these folks are well able to afford cover, but choose to go without. That seems to be borne out by the ehealth survey [ibid]:

Researchers found that �previously uninsured consumers who bought health coverage in 2005 were much more likely than in 2004 to be over age 60 and to have annual incomes in the $50,001 to $75,000 category.�

And in fact, almost a third of those who purchased such a HDHP in 2005 were �in the $50,001-$75,000 income category were uninsured, up from 27% in 2004.�

Food for thought.