Jim Frogue of the Center for Health Transformation gives the idea of patient-powered health care some a real-life example when he alerted me to a presentation by Wayne Sensor, CEO of Alegant Health.

Alegant, Frogue is a non-profit faith-based hospital system based in Omaha. Sensor, Frogue said, "testified to the House Ways and Means committee about his innovative leadership around consumer-driven health plans and transparency of cost and quality outcomes."

Sensor offered the following points about the options that his 9,000 employees have, and what they do with those options. Quoting Frogue's comments:

· 92 percent of employees chose an HRA or HSA plan over the standard PPO
· They used 3 times the national average in preventive care
· More low-income (under $25k) workers chose the HSA than high-income ($100k) workers
· These same low-income workers contributed an average of $1,400 to their HSAs in 2007
· HSA enrollees used the most preventive care

Widespread acceptance; more preventive care, and more popular among low-wage employees than high-wage ones. Not exactly what you'd expect if you listen only to critics of patient-powered/consumer-driven care.