Hewitt Associates made news this week with the latest edition of its annual report on employer health care costs.

A news article from Orlando on the report reminds us--as if we needed reminding--that the share of employer-provided insurance that is paid for by employees is increasing. (Yes, employees pay the entire burden since insurance is paid in lieu of cash, but we're talking more obvious expenditures such as co-pays and premiums.)

So here's the crazy question: Say employers as a group continue to make the costs of insurance explicit by demanding higher premiums and the like. Will that be a back-door entrance towards a consumerist environment? Not entirely, of course--how many things do you purchase through payroll deduction--but once the cost of insurance is not hidden in forgone wage increases but in ever-larger numbers on the pay stub, shouldn't that be a clue to workers to demand better service at lower cost?

It could backfire in a populist call for more regulation.  Or, to take the optimistic road here, people could eventually say "Forget this. Give me whatever subsidy is left, Mr. Employer, along with your tax deduction, and I'll find a policy myself."

One can dream.