Low prices are great and looking for low prices is smart--except when you look for low prices in the wrong spot.

As evidence I offer some news from a chamber of commerce to which I belong. It offers its members, among other things, access to some insurance plans.

A recent newsletter announces some "improvements" to the plans. Among the improvements: generic drugs now cost only $3.00.

Well, not quite. The $3.00 is the co-pay. Often, I suspect, that means that insurance dollars are paying for predictable expenses that could be paid for out of pocket. Instead, this is an example of how health "insurance" can be not insurance at all but a form of pre-payment--and one subject to restrictions on consumer choice such as formularies.

While the low co-pay may be attractive to prospective customers, it furthers the illusion that insurance offers "free money."