"When [Kaiser] does something, the other carriers have to compete, especially when Kaiser's pricing of its [new] products is so affordable.... Kaiser and the other [national] staff models, which have historically been prepaid first-dollar health care organizations, are actually in a better position to make the transition [to deductible products] in California than are the large capitated [independent practice associations]."

— James Knight, M.D., CEO of Consumer Directed Health Care, Inc. and chairman of the 1st Pacific Bank of California, discussing Kaiser Permanente's surging enrollment in deductible plans with AIS's Health Plan Week.

…was the approximate increase in account-based plan enrollment by the nation's Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans as of Jan. 1, up to 4 million lives from 2.5 million one year earlier, according to a survey by AIS's Inside Consumer-Directed Care.