Consumer driven health plans are being used more and more to combat the problem of high health insurance costs and rightfully so.

On average, in my state, a family of five can save $649 per month or $7,788 per year by switching from a traditional health plan with a $1,000 deductible to a consumer driven health plan with a $10,000 family deductible. Keep reading to find out how much you would save. If the savings alone isn’t compelling enough, the coverage has its own pros:

Pros

• Preventive care is now covered at 100% on all plans. Since the health care reform bill went into effect, all health insurance companies are required by law to cover preventive care, before you are required to pay toward the deductible.
• Many consumer driven health plans cover 100% of your expenses after you meet your deductible. This can be a huge improvement in benefits if you’ve had a plan that required you to pay 20% or 30% of your bill, even after you met your deductible.
• These plans are often easier to get approved for, because you are opting for a higher deductible.
• Consumer driven plans that are qualified to be used with a health savings account allow you the opportunity to pay most of your health, dental, and vision expenses with pre-tax money, saving you even more.
• The monthly savings is usually enough to build up a well-sized savings for future medical expenses, over the period of a year or two.
• You still have the option of adding supplemental insurance plans, such as cancer plans.
• You keep the money you save if you don’t use your plan throughout the year. For example, if you pay $1,000 per month for a traditional plan, the insurance company keeps your $12,000 in annual premiums whether you use your benefits or not. With a consumer driven health insurance plan, you keep the thousands of dollars in savings and only spend more if you need medical care.

There are a few things you need to know before purchasing one of these plans. Here are the cons:

Cons

• These plans won’t benefit you if you use your insurance benefits often, have expensive/multiple prescriptions, or have a chronic illness. If this is the situation you are in, you will likely be better off with a plan that has more comprehensive coverage for office visits, prescriptions, and everyday medical care.
• Some consumer driven health care plans don’t cover prescriptions, even after the deductible. But, if you look around there are usually plans that do cover prescriptions, but not until after the deductible is met.

The cons list is much shorter than the pros and I believe this is quite accurate. If you or your family are healthy, can use a tax deduction, want to save money on your health insurance, and take control of your own health care, a consumer driven health plan might be just what you’ve been looking for.