Sticky Fingers

According to a recent Harris Interactive poll, employees have sticky fingers when it comes to employer provided health insurance.

According to the poll, 89% feel very or somewhat confident their employer sponsored health insurance will meet their needs during the coming year.

Surprisingly, only 34% expected their share of health insurance premiums to rise over the next 12 months. Must be folks who work for generous employers.

Even more surprising is the low number (17%) who are enrolled in either an FSA, HSA, HRA or other spending account and only 6% will be enrolled in the HSA or HRA. Granted, the FSA has a bad rap for the "use it or lose it" rules, but why would consumers of health care fail to take advantage of tax favored accounts?

Perhaps when it comes to health care, consumers would prefer to be spenders, as long as it is someone else's money, rather than savers.