Consumer Driven Health Plans
Consumer Directed Health Plans (CDHP) are a fairly recent development and are designed to involve consumers more directly in their health care purchases. They blend a high deductible policy with a form of spending or saving account.
A typical account might have an annual deductible of $2500 and a $1000 fund. The consumer's first $1000 of medical costs are paid from the fund, then they're responsible for remaining expenses up to the $2500 level where major medical coverage begins.
This shifts a lot of the cost to the consumer, and the theory is that, if it's their money on the line, they're going to be more careful spending it. The actual cost to the consumer is actually much less than it would appear because these policies generally have a much lower premium. This difference can be used to make up the gap between the $2500 deductible and the $1000 fund, or saved for future years.