Workers often turn to managers for information on consumer-driven health insurance plans

The Wall Street Journal on Monday examined how, although consumer-driven health plans have "motivated some workers to research what they are paying for medical care," the "employees' research often consists of going" to their managers for help.

According to the Journal, "the president's push to make the health care market more like the market for other services can change consumers' behavior" and reduce health care costs.

However, "some managers have to turn themselves into instant experts both on health care and on the law" after they implement consumer-driven health plans because, in the event that they use or allegedly use "health information in firing or demoting an employee," they "might be in for a lawsuit," the Journal reports.

The Journal profiled Nick Bond, a manager for Russ Moore Transmission, on his experience with a consumer-driven health plan that he implemented after he "suspected some employees were overusing medical care because they didn't have to pay for much of it themselves" (Rubenstein, Wall Street Journal, 9/22).