Consumer warming

The pace of change in the health care market might be glacial when it comes to consumer engagement, but it remains steady. Employers, and by extension their employees, are moving toward a more account-based form of health care funding, but it’s clearly not happening overnight.

A new study from the Employee Benefit Research Institute bears that out. Roughly 10 percent of the population was enrolled in a consumer-driven plan this year, up 3 percent from last year. High-deductible health plan enrollment remained static at 16 percent. Not surprisingly, the numbers skew younger, according to the latest Consumer Engagement in Health Care Survey, with nearly 19 million consumers (with private insurance) aged 21-64 enrolled, representing more than 15 percent of the demographic.