Almost 70 percent of U.S. consumers believe they have little to no impact on reducing their own health care costs, according to a recent health care reform report.

Data collected from more than 1,000 consumers from Chadwick Martin Bailey and South Street Strategy Group found 75 percent of consumers see health insurance companies as responsible for lowering health costs. Forty-six percent believe government agencies should take on the task.

"The confusion around health reform is both an opportunity and a challenge for insurers to take a leadership role and become educators and trusted advisors for consumers to turn to," says Mark Carr, managing partner of South Street Strategy Group. "This is just the first of many challenges health reform will pose for carriers. As reform shifts a significant portion of the insurance market from a wholesale to a retail market, many insurers, who are largely B-to-B marketers, will need to develop new, more differentiated value propositions and go-to-market strategies."