Originally Posted by BoilerUP

Welcome to what small business has been doing for the last couple years. Like it or not, high-deductible health plans & HSAs are the wave of the future because they have lower premiums (for both employers & employees) and actually do serve to lower health care costs. HSAs also have tax benefits for employees.

Because you pay out of pocket up to the deductible with a HDHP, people think twice about going to the doctor for minor stuff that they normally wouldn't think twice about under a copay PPO. When one needs to have a procedure done, they shop around and (likely) take their business to the lowest-cost option. This creates competition between healthcare providers (MD offices, hospitals, etc) which lowers the overall cost of care.

Once you hit the deductible, you're done with out-of-pocket expenses for the rest of the calendar year.

HDHPs are a fair deal if you have very little or a lot of medical expenses, but really suck if you're in between (like many folks tend to be).

Just so you know how you stack up, my company (100 employees) only offers a HDHP with a 2500 individual/5000 family deductible...but they also contribute $50/mo to each employee's HSA.