Enrollment in health maintenance organization plans has surpassed enrollment in consumer-driven health plans, a survey concludes.
While 12.4 percent of employees enrolled in CDHPs this year, 15.4 percent enrolled in HMOs, according the “2010 United Benefit Advisors Health Plan Survey” released Monday, August 23. In comparison, 15.4 percent of employees enrolled in CDHPs in 2009 while 13.6 percent of employees enrolled in HMOs.
The rate of CDHP growth also has slowed, according to the Indianapolis-based alliance of 145 benefit advisory firms. Employers have introduced 18.1 percent more CDHP offerings in the past year, down from a growth rate of 33.9 percent in last year’s survey.
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Many companies do not intend to comply early with a provision in the new health care reform law that will require group health care plans to extend coverage to employees’ young adult children up to age 26, according to a survey released Tuesday, June 8.
Among the 501 large employers responding to a Hewitt Associates Inc. survey, 77 percent said they will wait until the effective date before offering the coverage. Ten percent of respondents said they will extend coverage early to all eligible adult children, 9 percent said they will continue coverage for graduating students already covered in their plans, and 4 percent were undecided.
The law requires the extension to be made on the first day of the plan year starting after September 23, 2010. For calendar-year plans, which are the most common, the effective date of the provision would be January 1.
Source: Jerry Geisel, Business Insurance, a sister publication of Workforce Management.
The U.S. Government Bureau of Labor Statistics has released the third issue of Program Perspectives. This is a new publication designed to showcase the latest statics from BLS programs.
The report, which focuses on retirement programs, is an easy-to-read summary of access, participation and take-up rates by employees in different retirement programs, employer cost for retirement programs and other useful information.
Read the full, 4-page report here. And remember, HRN Management Group offers comprehensive Employee Benefits Analyses utilizing a number of national resources to assist clients in maintaining a competitive benefits program.
The California Supreme Court’s recent ruling upheld Proposition 8, which denies same sex couples the right to marry. However that ruling does not affect registered domestic partners’ state workplace rights which are quite similar to those of heterosexual couples.
The California Domestic Partner Rights and Responsibilities Act provides that registered domestic partners “have the same rights, protections, and benefits provided to married couples.” Therefore such same sex couples would be entitled to rights under California’s family leave law, paid family disability leave, kin care, and discrimination laws.
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You may have noticed recent news stories regarding Americans who have traveled to foreign countries, often India, Latin America, or Thailand for expensive surgeries. These individuals are either uninsured or underinsured and can save significant amounts of money by traveling abroad for medical procedures. As you might guess, medical tourism hasn’t gone unnoticed in corporate America.
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A sign of the troubled times is that most new HR related survey data tends to fall on the negative side. Here is the latest case in point and it is sobering news indeed for employees of small businesses who currently have the option of enrolling in an employer provided health benefit plan.
Nineteen percent of employers responding to a new Hewitt Associates survey are planning to stop offering health benefits over the next three to five years, nearly five times as many as the 4 percent that said they were planning an exit strategy last year.
For those employers planning to continue to provide health benefits, keeping employees healthy has become the primary workforce issue in 2009, up from the number 2 position in 2008, according to Lincolnshire, Illinois-based Hewitt’s survey, “The Road Ahead: Emerging Health Trends 2009.”
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U.S. employers held health benefit cost increases to about 6% in 2008 for a fourth straight year. This statistic is deceptive and would lead one to believe that health care insurance premiums are leveling out. The fact is that employer cost increases have held at 6% because more cost has been shifted to the employees.
The median deductible required by employers for individual coverage in preferred provider organization (PPO) health plans DOUBLED to $1000 from 2007 to 2008, according to the National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans conducted annually by HR consultancy Mercer. In 2000, only about half of employers imposed a deductible for PPO coverage (compared to about four-fifths in 2008), and when they did, the median amount was just $250. PPOs are the most popular type of group health plan, enrolling 69% of covered employees.
What makes this finding noteworthy is that it refers to traditional PPO deductibles reaching as high as $1000, not high-deductible health plans. $1000 deductibles are the norm for high-deductible health plans that allow an employee to contribute to a tax-free health savings account (HSA) which is used to pay for health care expenses. These consumer-directed health plans are growing rapidly and illustrate the change that has taken place in the employer health care insurance industry where employer costs have stabilized while employee costs continue to increase at a double digit annual rate. Raising the deductible has become the fallback for employers faced with cost increases they can’t afford.
Source: HR Magazine, January 2009, Stephen Miller
According to a study conducted by the consulting firm Mercer, employers struggling to deal with escalating health costs will increasingly shift benefits’ expenses to employees.
This is a continuing trend. In fact between 2003 and 2007 the
median family deductible in preferred provider plans increased from $1000 to $1500. Mercer found that of those organizations that were going to pursue cost reductions, 60% indicated they would raise deductibles, coinsurance, copayments, and/or out-of-pocket maximums.
Another 19% reported that they will add a high deductible plan and employee spending account such as a health savings account (HSA). It’s estimated that heath plan costs will increase by 8% in 2009. Small employers’ costs could go up 10%. In response more small employers are discontinuing their plans or not instituting them in the first place.
As employers, employees, and political candidates struggle with what to do about the country’s health insurance mess, results are beginning to come in from Massachusetts. You’ll remember that Massachusetts passed a ground breaking law in 2006 that required nearly all residents to get coverage, created subsidized programs for poorer citizens, and established a Health Care Connector plan for the higher paid to obtain lower cost insurance. Results of the program are good so far. They include:
• The percentage of uninsured adults decreased from 13%- 7%. The percent of uninsured poor citizens dropped the most, but significant drops were seen among wealthier individuals as well.
• Poorer adults were more likely to see doctors and dentists than they had in the past.
• 350,000 more people became insured.
• People have paid less for medically related out-of-pocket expenses.
• 95% of Massachusetts taxpayers have become insured. Of the 5% who weren’t, over ½ were found to be financially able to buy insurance and were “fined” for not doing so.
More information can be found in a June 3 USA Today article found at:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-06-03-mass-healthcare_N.htm
You’ve no doubt seen news reports of Americans seeking medical care abroad. They’re either uninsured, underinsured, or simply trying to save money by having surgery in Latin America, Thailand, or India. As you might have guessed this trend hasn’t gone unnoticed by corporate America seeking to save money on their health care or insurance carriers hoping to roll out a new product.
According to a recent report by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans, 11% of surveyed employers cover medical tourism. Those surveyed were Certified Employee Benefits Specialists and therefore part of large organizations. However, don’t be surprised to see this trend extend beyond the very large companies to others seeking to find another way to control costs.
A couple of other interesting findings from the survey included the increase in coverage (from 1999-2007) in other types of care that haven’t been considered mainstream. Acupuncture coverage increased from 14% to 34%, massage therapy 8% to 13.5%, and nutrition therapy 5% to 12.8%.
