Two insights in Time's article on passing on the healthcare buck

Time magazine's 30 October 2006 article "Pressure on Your Health Benefits" is about how companies are passing on more costs of the health benefits they provide onto their employees in order to reduce the cost to their bottom-lines. But two back-to-back paragraphs I found more interesting.

This one says that the model of HSAs (Health Savings Accounts) promoted by President Bush doesn't benefit the account holders in terms of both health and personal costs:

A study by benefits-consulting firm Watson Wyatt Worldwide found no correlation between high-deductible plans and companies with the lowest health-care costs. And a Rand Corp. report last week showed that people with such coverage more often forgo necessary care--which generally leads to greater expense later.

And this one is about companies recognizing that preventive healthcare is more cost-effective than treating things when they go wrong:

Indeed, most corporations are focused on giving employees incentives to stay healthy. Some 60% promote preventive care through wellness programs, including smoking cessation and health-club discounts. "More than ever before, companies are seeing the link between good health and productivity," says Beth Bierbower, vice president of product innovation for insurance provider Humana. "So they're engaging employees more on what their personal needs are."