In 2006 Wisconsin’s Manitowoc County needed to control its employee health care costs. With union agreement, it decided to experiment with a qualified high deductible health plan coupled with a health savings account. For single employees, the county planned to contribute $1,500 to a health savings account for each person. It hoped to save up to $825 an employee.

Initial results are in. At the end of 2007, County Executive Bob Ziegelbauer told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the county would save $500,000 from what it spent in 2006. The savings occurred even though it paid the entire employee health insurance premium, eliminated all copays, and put $1,500 into the health savings account of each covered individual or $3,000 into the health savings account of each employee with a family policy.

In January, the county issued a report projecting savings for 2008. It estimates that employees with family plans will save a minimum of $2,126.70 in cash compared to what they would have paid under the old low deductible with co-pay plan. The County’s cash savings per family plan are projected to be $5,941.80 a year. An October 2007 op-ed by Mr. Ziegelbauer explains why it HSAs work. The slide show the county uses to explain the new plan to its employees is here.

Even though Wisconsin legislators tax health savings accounts, an estimated 5.6 percent of people who were under 65 and privately insured were in them at the beginning of 2008. This puts Wisconsin among the top 10 states for HSA penetration, behind Minnesota (9.2 percent), Louisiana (9.0 percent), Vermont (7.4 percent), Colorado (7.1 percent), Nebraska (6.4 percent), and Connecticut (5.8%).

Are your local officials looking at qualified high deductible plans coupled with health savings accounts for their employees?