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Article: A New Breed of Buyers.(employee health benefits)(Brief Article)(Column)(Statistical Data Included)
- Article from:
- Best's Review
- Article date:
- October 1, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 A.M. Best Company, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Defined-contribution health benefits will send employees shopping for coverage.
Over the next decade, we believe that the healthcare industry will be transformed into a consumer-focused marketplace. One critical enabler of this dramatic change will be a shift of employer-sponsored health plans away from defined benefits and toward defined-contribution formats. Much as the defined-contribution model has placed individuals center stage in determining how to finance their own retirements, employees will soon be placed in the driver's seat for selecting their own health plans and providers in an open market. (See "Freedom of Choicer page 127.)
The problems ...