Reno company creates plan to supercharge HSAs

MediLinQ Inc.

of Reno sees opportunity as more employers prepare to offer highdeductible health plans coupled with one of the newly introduced Health Savings Accounts.

The high-deductible plans cut employers' health benefit costs, while the Health Savings Accounts allow workers to set aside pre-tax dollars to cover health care.

But anyone with high-deductible health plans has a significant financial responsibility, says Jim Braun, vice president of sales.

MediLinQ,which is independent of health plans,will provide consumers access to preferred or discounted rates to a nationwide spectrum of providers about 400,000 of them currently.

If a consumer wants to go a provider that's not in the existing network, Braun says, the company will extend an invitation to provider on the consumer's behalf.

"Our viewpoint is if it's your money that you're spending in a high-deductible plan,why don't we create a system that would give you an opportunity to go to wherever you want, not just to the one that the carrier provides?"Braun says.

The company has come up with what it calls Health Savings Units, which can be purchased by consumers from their Health Savings Account dollars or by an employer-funded plan.

Consumers use the units to purchase healthcare at discounted rates, rather than the retail price they pay for services if they use money directly from their Health Savings Accounts.

Because the accounts are funded with pre-tax dollars, that gives consumers a double benefit, Braun says.

"They are not doing any purchasing.Our viewpoint is that by having HSUs you're able to save money when you spend as well as when you save,"Braun says.

The company also will provide educational tools so consumers can learn about their medical expenses.

Most of the time patients currently do not care about the components of their medical charges, but Braun believes that over the next few years as high-deductible plans become the dominant arrangement for healthcare, people would become more careful.

"When people have an economic stake in it they tend to be more wise and discretionary in how they use it,"he says.

The company also plans to provide the handling and reimbursement of the claims service.

In selected markets it plans to enter into direct contracts with providers that will allow them to bill the company directly online through its Web site and get electronic payments back.

Choosing Reno as a location for the company was easy.One of the cofounders,who's also the executive vice president, Peter Pool, M.D., lives in Reno.

Reno has also a good business climate, Braun points out and "It seemed to be the right kind of market size where you could start, get your hands around it." Also it's close to San Francisco,where the company has some of its operations.

It's also the home of its other co-founder and chief executive officer Craig Brandman, M.D.

"We are starting out by talking with getting to know and sharing with the people of the benefits community,"Braun says.

That includes the brokers and agents who are involved with their clients' decisions about health benefits.