J&D Benefits Perspective

2008 UBA Survey

Employers Eye CDHPs, Wellness to Curb Costs

As health care costs continue to rise, more employers are looking to consumer-driven health plans (CDHPs) and employee wellness programs to help control costs, according to the new Health Plan Survey by United Benefit Advisors (UBA).

The 2008 UBA Health Plan Survey, the nation's largest and most comprehensive benchmark survey of employer-sponsored plan design and plan costs, found that CDHPs increased by 43 percent from last year and now make up nearly 13 percent of all plans offered by employers.

The percentage of employees enrolled in these plans nearly doubled, from six percent in 2007 to 11.2 percent this year.

While preferred provider organizations (PPOs) continue to dominate the market, representing 54 percent of plans offered by employers and nearly two-thirds (62.7 percent) of employees enrolled, health maintenance organization (HMO) participation continues to slip. HMOs now represent just 21.3 percent of plans offered, with only 13.3 percent of employees enrolled.

"Certainly the continued growth of CDHPs is a key headline to come out of this year's survey," said Bill Stafford, UBA's vice president of member services. "Fee For Service/Indemnity and Exclusive Provider Organizations now have virtually disappeared from the market, and HMOs are losing ground as employers seek to help contain the rising cost of health care and insurance premiums."

Employer Opinion Survey

Wellness Programs, Tools Help Control Costs

Incentive-based employee wellness programs and chronic disease management programs, combined with enhanced employee education and communications, are gaining increased use as key cost-containment alternatives, according to United Benefit Advisors’ (UBA) 2008 Employer Opinion Survey.

These changes are also being fueled by the increasing applicability and decreasing costs of web-based solutions and the growing sophistication of benefit advisors, thus enabling employers of all sizes to now have access to tools, services, and programs that were previously available only to very large employers.

United Benefit Advisors - Annual Benchmark Survey

INDIANAPOLIS, Aug. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- United Benefit Advisors (UBA), ( http://benefits.com/ ), an alliance of 142 of the nation's premier independent benefit advisory firms, today released the results of its third annual employer-sponsored health plan benchmark survey.

With responses from 16,485 health plans sponsored by 11,723 employers nationwide who employ nearly 1.9 million people (approximately 4.5 million total lives), the 2007 UBA Health Plan Survey is the nation's largest and most comprehensive survey of plan design and plan costs.

"With a growth rate of approximately 20% over last year's previously unprecedented number of respondents, the report defines benchmarks for a greater number of specific industries, regions, and employee size categories than have been available previously," says Bill Stafford, UBA's Vice President, Member Services. "The results will be especially valuable to employers in evaluating the effectiveness of their current plans and to knowledgeably make future adjustments while keeping their benefits both competitive and cost-effective."

Decision-Support Tools Help Consumers Make Sound Health Decisions

The majority (73%) of participating employers think employees can become better healthcare consumers if given the tools to do so, according to United Benefit Advisors’ (UBA) 2007 Employer Survey. “Employees have a huge vested interest in helping contain costs in order to both stem the erosion in plan benefits and their share of higher premium costs; and most are willing and able to do so if provided the tools and information required,” said David LoCascio, UBA Co-Founder.

Employers Still Expect Double-Digit Costs; CDH Premiums Lowest

UBA Benchmark Survey

EVEN THOUGH employers expect a continual slow decline in the double-digit cost increases of the past six years in their health costs, they still anticipate average expense hikes of 12.2% (before any plan changes) next year.

This was one of a series of findings from the recent UBA/Ingenix 2005 Health Plan Survey of 12,176 health plans sponsored by more than 8,700 employers. “This finding reflects little confidence that a substantive solution to rising costs has been found,” says David LoCascio, UBA Co-Founder.

Kaiser Family Foundation Releases New California Benefits Survey

Employees' share of employer-sponsored health insurance premium costs for families in California increased 70% in the past four years, with more than half of that increase coming in 2003, according to a study released Tuesday by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust, the San Jose Mercury News reports (Feder Ostrov, San Jose Mercury News, 3/17). The study found that health insurance premiums for employer-sponsored plans in California rose an average of 15.8% in 2003, compared with a national average increase of 13.9%. The increase was the state's largest in four years and was seven times the rate of consumer inflation. Although California rates rose more quickly than national rates, in dollar amounts, premiums in California are still lower than the national average

For the study, the Kaiser Family Foundation surveyed 864 California businesses and found that 70% of employers offered health insurance, the same rate as in 2002, but employers "continued to shift more of the cost of health benefits to their workers, especially those with families". The study also found the following:

Employee contributions for employer-sponsored health insurance in California increased 22% for individual coverage and almost 35% for family coverage in 2003 compared with 2002 (Rapaport, ( Sacramento Bee, 3/17).

Kaiser CEO Pinpoints "Cost Driver" Population

Kaiser CEO George Halverson presented the above slide at a recent presentation at the San Jose Tech Museum, he points out the percentage of people consuming the majority of medical resources is small. For example, 1% of the insured population incurs 30% of the costs and 30% of people account for 90% of medical care spending. Mr. Halverson used these facts as a basis for arguement that Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) or a National Health Care Plan will do nothing to curb health costs, it is "easy to take care of the 70% of people that are healthy". In his opinion, uniform care in the form of prevention and "best practices" in treating disease needs to be applied to the emerging risk and high risk populations.

Excellent Employer Survey Of Benefit Costs

Download file

Click Here For A Copy Of The Most Recent Kaiser Family Foundation Benefits Survey