Survey: Health Accounts Cut Claims 16%

Costs appeared to be about 16% lower for members of the health account plans than for comparable members of the traditional plans, according to CIGNA researchers.

Excluding the cost of premiums, health account plan members’ share of total plan health care costs fell to 16%, from 19%, in part because of employer health account contributions, the researchers report.

CIGNA researchers found that members of the health account plans were more likely than members of traditional plans to use medications prescribed to treat conditions such as high cholesterol levels but less likely to use prescription migraine drugs and ulcer drugs.

The results of the study of 12 months of data appear to be similar to the results of an earlier study of 6 months of health account program data, CIGNA researchers report.