The cooelest thing about HSA's is that it eliminates all the administrative meddling in approving procedures.
All thos administrators cost money and cut into your health dallar. Some one has to pay their salarys.
Mylife, I worked for nearly a year in the utilization review department of a very large hospital. Many times, the insurance companies are already on the phone before the patient has been admitted, demanding justification for all procedures, length of stay, etcetera. If they don't get their reviews (from the R.N. case managers) in time, they start threatening to not pay and so forth. It's a brutal, fast-paced department. But these are the people looking out for the patient and the facility at the same time.
My job was to phone the insurance company to confirm the patient's coverage, and then to obtain authorization for services to be performed. Even PPOs require auths for many services, procedures, medical equipment, etc.
So, it's basically patient and provider versus insurance. Now, as the President said tonight, the patient and doctor together are the best ones to make health care decisions, thereby indicating the nuisance that insurance can be.
Although, many are quite happy with the HMO of their choice and benefit greatly financially once they learn how to use the plan's services. I'm working for a large HMO now.