MANAGED CARE March 2005. ©MediMedia USA
It is perhaps inevitable that as the newly re-elected President Bush struggles to usher in his "ownership society," health savings accounts [1] should garner increasing attention. As our cover story by Contributing Editor John Carroll makes clear, the interest in HSAs will continue to grow.
In fact, we could be talking about the Next Big Thing in health care insurance. Some plans are not sitting idle while history washes by. Aetna, in particular, has been quick to roll out HSAs. "It's more and more what people hear about," points out Chris Hakim, the company's small-business leader in the western region.
Elsewhere in this issue, people have been hearing about disease management and direct-to-consumer advertising for a very long time, which doesn't mean that they can't hear something new about them.
Our story on DM looks at how Kaiser Permanente flexes corporate muscles unique to that health plan in cutting costs dramatically for asthma patients [2].
Our story on DTC advertising [3] wonders if it's really as effective as many claim (you may be surprised at some of the takes on this issue).
For something really new under the sun we turn to the old, or at least how to care for the old. Our story on geriatricians shows how Medicare Advantage plans might employ these specialists [4]. Demographics more and more demand it.
We cover a changing industry in a changing world. That means, I guess, that we cover change, without which no publication could exist. These are exciting times in which to be living. But weren't they always? Now, on to the ownership society.