Sinu

Read a Business Week article about a finance professor switching his family from a traditional health insurance plan to an HSA (Health Savings Account).  One of the results of his switch was that the pre-tax money he was able to put aside rolled over year after year.  So now he saw this as his own money.  His family then began to be more educated about their health spending and he is even looking into investing -his- HSA money in a long term growth fund.

This is the kind of aligned incentives we are always thinking about here at Sinu.  Recently we have had similar discussions with a few subscriber companies about their wiring infrastructure.  Like preventative measures in health care (routine check-ups, diet & exercise) many of us do not see the immediate impact of IT areas like wiring or equipment replacement.

I wonder if an HSA type arrangement for portions of the IT budget could be accomplished where the 'savings' could eventually be translated into obvious benefits to the staff like, raises, new machines or mobile devices.  Companies would not think twice about the cost of a laptop, because it is tangible, but an $80 wiring job to handle the laptop's thirst for sweet juice of 'The Internets' seems unnecessary.

On a related note, if I were a Web 2.0 startup - I would start building tools for families to compare doctors, drug costs and HSA investment options collaboratively with other families.  Revolution Health will be snapping up discrete-feature-startups left and right soon..

Tools to help you keep from dying - talk about killer app.