THINKBYTE: Defined Contribution Health Plans

A Defined Contribution Health Plan (DCHP) is a large and important topic and regularly becoming more so.  With such plans, the predetermined contributions determine the benefits which is the opposite of the traditional defined benefit plan.  The two primary reasons for the growing popularity of this new approach are: (1) plan costs for the sponsor are more controllable and (2) participants are provided needed benefits with options to make the plan better fit their needs.  It is important to understand that a DCHP must have a sponsor.  Without such, it is not a health plan but only a plan strategy.   Numerous key words/terms collectively describe our topic.  Each such is then further discussed as a separate Thinkbyte as follows:

Consumer-Directed Health Plan (CDHP), 
Decision Support Tools, 
Defined Benefit Health Plan (DBHP), 
Defined Contribution Health Plan (DCHP), 
Flexible Spending Account (FSA), 
Fully Insured Health Plan, 
Health Insurance Exchange, 
Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA), 
Health Savings Account (HSA), 
High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP), 
Individual Health Policy,
Multi-Carrier Health Insurance Exchange, 
Out-of-Pocket Costs, 
Affordable Care Act, 
Self-Funded Health Plan, 
Single Carrier Health Insurance Exchange, 
Voluntary Benefits and 
Wellness Program.