Health-Wealth Convergence, Part 3

As health-care costs skyrocket, employers are finding it increasingly difficult to offer comprehensive health benefits, and the burden of health-care financing is gradually shifting to the consumer. According to experts at Booz Allen Hamilton, consumers will need to meet this challenge by planning for their health-care costs as they do for their other financial expenditures, by tapping into products aligned with the financial-services life-planning cycle. strategy+business and Knowledge@Wharton recently spoke with Joni Bessler, vice president at Booz Allen Hamilton, and Kent Smetters, professor of insurance and risk management at Wharton, about what this "health-wealth" convergence could look like. In this final segment of a three-part interview, Bessler and Smetters describe what some health-wealth products might look like, the regulatory changes that would be required to create these products, and the pros and cons for consumers and players.