Employers Not Deserting Health Benefit Arena

Published: Aug 20, 2013 By David Pittman, Washington Correspondent, MedPage Today The percentage of employers offering health insurance to their workers fell only slightly this year compared with last year, according to a large survey released Tuesday. The survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Health Research & Educational Trust found that 57% of firms offered health benefits in 2013 -- statistically unchanged from 61% last year and 60% in 2011. The overall drop came mostly from the smallest firms -- those with three to nine workers -- which fell from 50% offering health benefits last year to 45% this year. But that drop was within the survey's margin of error. "Pretty much what we've found this year is what we've found in previous years," lead author Gary Claxton, a Kaiser Family Foundation vice president and director of its Health Care Marketplace Project, said in a call with reporters Tuesday. The report, now in its 15th year, is based on a telephone survey of 2,067 randomly selected public and private employers with at least three workers. The survey was conducted between January and May 2013. "All in all, in this environment with lower premium increases, it's just not one where employers, I think, should be under pressure to try anything radical or dramatically new to control costs," Kaiser Family Foundation's Drew Altman, PhD, said. "It's not an environment where they should be dramatically cutting workers' benefits, which is a message for working people out there." The Kaiser survey, whose results were also published online in Health Affairs, found annual premiums for employer-sponsored family health coverage inched up 4% from last year with workers paying on average $4,565 toward their coverage. Single-coverage premiums rose 5% to $5,884. Meanwhile, workers' wages rose 1.8% and inflation went up 1.1% in the same period. "For me, a 4% premium increase is good news. It's pretty striking," Altman said, adding that in years past, the increases were in double digits. "This is a year with a very moderate rate increase, very moderate." Since 2003, premiums have increased 80% -- nearly three times faster than wages (31%) and inflation (27%). Wellness programs continue to grow in popularity with employers naming them as their favorite cost-saving strategy, "despite the fact that, as far as I know, the literature suggests the jury is out on their effectiveness," Altman said. Almost all employers with at least 200 workers offer at least one wellness program with weight-loss programs (58%), newsletters (60%), lifestyle coaching (57%), classes (50%), and biometric screenings to measure health risks (55%) being more popular aspects. About a third (36%) of large employers offer some kind of financial incentive to participate, such as a lower premium or deductible. More than three-quarters of workers (78%) have an annual deductible -- up from 72% last year and 62% in 2009. While the average deductible for all workers is $1,135, employees at firms with fewer than 200 workers face ones that are nearly twice as high ($1,715) as at large employers ($884). Other notable findings: • 59% of firms with fewer young workers offer health insurance compared to 23% of firms with more young workers • Lower-wage workers pay $1,363 more, on average, toward family premiums than workers at firms with fewer lower-wage workers • Employees who opted for single coverage paid an average of $2,412 toward their premiums "It just underscores that lower-wage working people struggle in our economy, and that's true when it comes to their health coverage too," Altman said. Claxton noted that 23% of employers offering insurance provide a tiered plan to steer employees toward more efficient, higher-quality providers -- up slightly from 20% in 2011 and 15% in 2007. This system has been shown to save money, Claxton said. http://www.medpagetoday.com/PublicHealthPolicy/HealthPolicy/41098?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2013-08-21&utm_content=&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DailyHeadlines&utm_source=WC&eun=g350341d0r&userid=350341&email=john@thebrokerageinc.com&mu_id=5344066