What a difference a year makes.
The passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has brought clarity to the market, yet muddied the waters at the same time. According to a new survey by the National Business Group on Health, more than one-half (53%) of large U.S. employers plan to revise their 2011 health care benefit programs in the wake of health care reform legislation and anticipated large benefit cost increases next year.
In order to further mitigate costs, employers are shifting to consumer-directed health plans. In fact, 61% of plan sponsors will offer a consumer-directed health plan (CDHP) in 2011. While the most common type of plan employers will offer is a high-deductible plan combined with a health savings account (64%), the survey found a large spike in employers moving to a full replacement plan. Among employers offering a CDHP, the number moving to a full replacement plan doubled from 10% this year to 20% in 2011.
Current CDHC enrollment is 18%. If that figure were to rise to 50% and participating companies used best practices in implementation and administration, the United States could save $350 billion over 10 years.
The passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has brought clarity to the market, yet muddied the waters at the same time. According to a new survey by the National Business Group on Health, more than one-half (53%) of large U.S. employers plan to revise their 2011 health care benefit programs in the wake of health care reform legislation and anticipated large benefit cost increases next year.
In order to further mitigate costs, employers are shifting to consumer-directed health plans. In fact, 61% of plan sponsors will offer a consumer-directed health plan (CDHP) in 2011. While the most common type of plan employers will offer is a high-deductible plan combined with a health savings account (64%), the survey found a large spike in employers moving to a full replacement plan. Among employers offering a CDHP, the number moving to a full replacement plan doubled from 10% this year to 20% in 2011.
Current CDHC enrollment is 18%. If that figure were to rise to 50% and participating companies used best practices in implementation and administration, the United States could save $350 billion over 10 years.
With each implementation deadline of the health care law, employers are learning more
However, there are many positive aspects that savvy employers are exploring. The idea of health care consumerism has clearly take hold, allowing employees to share in the benefits of managing chronic conditions and reaping the rewards for taking health risk assessments and being more conscious about how they spend their health care dollars.
The rise of health savings accounts (HSA) and the possibility of investing the overages in retirement vehicles have made financial education more important, and leading employers are bringing in consultants and developing comprehensive communication and education efforts in this area.
And the importance of voluntary benefits cannot be overlooked. The 2009 International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans survey found that a full 84% of U.S. employers said they offer voluntary benefits and, what’s more, employers reported no negative employee reaction. In fact, 89% of employees had a positive view.
We’d like to thank everyone who sent in nominations. As always, CDHC Solutions and EmployersWeb.com strive to be your resource for planning and implementation for health information and benefits. We’re continually adding content that demonstrates best practices, timely blogs on topics that affect your business, and a robust forum where you can interact with your fellow benefits executives.
We are proud to bring you this year’s Solutions Superstars winners and look forward to seeing you at one of our Forums or online in the coming months.
Sincerely,
Matt Bolch Managing Editor
mbolch[at]fieldmedia.com
Doug Field CEO/Publisher
dfield[at]fieldmedia.com