You’re really on the mark in stating that a government beauracracy will not solve the problem of health care. Insurance is a messenger, not a creator. By that, I mean that premiums reflect the underlying cost of health care. Until we have some means of controlling health care costs, insurance costs will not be controlled.

As an insurance with a great deal of experience in dealing with Consumer Driven Health Insurance and specifically, Medical Savings Accounts or their successor, Health Savings Accounts, I can assure you that, if properly understood and utilized, these plans can affect the cost of health insurance. Health insurance is best designed to compensate an insured for the castastrophic costs associated with major illness and injury. If one is committed to pay-ing the cost of low deductible insurance with arbitrarily determined office copays, a great deal of premium can be saved by buying a high deductible plan and depositing the difference in premium for the higher cost plan in an HSA. It’s not unusual to see premium savings of $200-$300 per month or $2,400-$3,600 for a qualified HSA insurance plan. This goes a long way toward seeding the $2,850 or $5,650 allowable contributions in a Health Savings Account.
The best part of this is that any contribution made to an HSA is an above the line tax deduction at the Federal level and in many states. This money remains under your ownership and control. The account earns interest on a tax-deferred basis, and when money is withdrawn from the account to pay qualified medical expenses, there is no tax on the withdrawn amount. At age 65, no further contributions are allowed to the account, however,any money remaining in the account continues to earn tax-deferred interest and can be used tax free to pay unreimbursed medical expenses and can be used to purchase Long Term Care insurance if so desired. If desired, the money can be converted to an Individual Retirement Account.