It's known as a consumer-directed health plan; it enables participants to essentially shop around for health care, helping to control costs and get them the best deal on doctors’ visits.

Deb McFarland is healthy and doesn't go to doctors often, so, when she was offered the chance to lower her insurance premiums, she took it.

“I thought it asked the consumers to take accountability for their own health,” she said.

McFarland now participates in St. John's consumer-directed health plan. For an individual, the plan sets $500 to $825 in a healthcare reimbursement account or HRA. The HRA money is the participant's to spend, encouraging him or her to find the best deal on health care. Once the money is gone, the participant has to pay for all healthcare costs out of pocket until he or she meets the deductible of $1,250. Then the regular St. John’s plan with coinsurance kicks in.

“We tried to build a culture wellness so that people are more cognizant of their lifestyle choices and their impact on the healthcare and their well being,” said Jim Brookhart of St. John’s Health System.

In a sense, it forces healthcare providers to compete for your business.

“There is a potential to decrease health care costs and moderate increases,” said Brookhart.

One of the problems with consumer-directed health plans is many people forego preventive care in an effort to preserve their HRA dollars. St. John's addressed this by providing preventive care for free.

“The preventive piece doesn't cost them anything, so they're not discouraged from getting preventive care done,” said Brookhart.

Consumer-directed health plans are growing in popularity. In 2008, 20 percent of companies nationwide offered such a plan, up from 5 percent in 2005.

“You wouldn't go out and buy a couch without shopping or a lawn mower without shopping. So why would you not shop before you got an MRI done?”

“If you're going to have to pay for it up front, you might as well find your best deal.”

Any HRA money not used rolls over to next year. If successful, the insurance company for St. John’s, Mercy Health Plans, could begin providing the option to its customers around the community as early as next year. St. John's allowed its current employees to keep their current HMO plan but all new employees will automatically be enrolled in the consumer-directed health plan.