If you don t have any purchasing power, information doesn t mean much. Third, let the consumers figure out what they want. Health insurance has changed considerably. With the advent of managed care, each plan took on its own characteristics, its own approach to care, and essentially became a choice. Fourth, employers need to support quality, innovation, and legislation.
Employers don t care a whole lot about quality today.
And most employers just say no to most legislation. But a lot of the legislation that has been proposed is very supportive of a consumer-driven strategy. The way to get there is really pretty straightforward. It s to go from defined benefits to defined contribution to total compensation. Defined-contribution plans have made a competitive marketplace work for retirement programs.