(EBRI: Wasington, D.C.) -- A relatively new health plan model that advocates hope will control rising health spending could fail if key consumer education initiatives prove ineffective, according to a study recently published by the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute.

The study, published in the January 2008 EBRI Issue Brief, examines the model generally known as consumer-driven health plans and concludes, “Should health education initiatives prove ineffective, the ‘consumer-driven health movement’ could well be doomed, especially if it relies upon fully educated health consumers taking self-initiated actions.”

The Issue Brief reports that consumers’ knowledge of health insurance issues and active involvement in their own care is essential to achieving quality health care that is safe and affordable. But it adds that consumers have “little or no input” into the consumer-driven plans that policymakers and employers are currently discussing.

“Nor are consumers receiving health education that takes both their psycho-social and income-security concerns into account,” the study reads.

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