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Health benefit cost growth predicted to ease slightly in 2009 as employers shift cost
Early responses to Mercer's annual survey indicate cost will rise 5.7 percent next year
United States
New York ,
4 September 2008, Mercer
After three
years of double-digit growth in the first half of the decade, annual health
benefit cost increases slowed to about 6 percent in 2005 and have stayed there
ever since. Preliminary survey findings released today by Mercer indicate that
cost growth is likely to slow a little further in 2009, to 5.7 percent – which
would be the lowest increase in more than 10 years. Last year, Mercer’s annual
survey found that average health benefit cost per employee rose 6.1 percent in
2007.
Mercer’s
complete survey results won’t be released until later in the year, but for the
1,317 employer health plan sponsors that have responded so far, the total cost
to renew their current health plans – if they were to make no changes – would
grow by nearly 8 percent on average. Small employers (those with 10–499
employees) would see an even higher increase, of about 10 percent. However, the
majority of respondents say they will take action to lower their actual cost
increases.
“It’s a
relief to see cost growth trending down, even slightly,” said Blaine Bos, a
senior Mercer health and benefits consultant based in Minneapolis. “But this is
not an unqualified success story. While some employers are holding down cost
growth with innovative methods of improving health care quality and efficiency,
more typically employers struggling with increases they can’t handle resort to
the tried and true method of shifting cost to employees.”
Well over
half (59 percent) of employers taking action to reduce their 2009 cost increase
will raise deductibles, copayments, coinsurance or employee out-of-pocket
spending limits. Employee cost-sharing has risen sharply over the past five
years: Between 2003 and 2007, the median family deductible for in-network
services in a PPO (the type of plan offered by the most employers) rose from
$1,000 to $1,500.
A smaller
number of the employers – 19 percent – say they will lower their 2009 costs by
adding a consumer-directed health plan (CDHP), which is a high-deductible plan
with an employee-controlled spending account (a health saving account (HSA) or
health reimbursement arrangement). Many of these plans give employees an
incentive to take cost into consideration when seeking health care services by
allowing them to
save (on a tax-advantaged basis) account dollars they don’t spend in a given
year for future needs. While it’s too early
to make a final assessment of how well this new plan
model works, among the survey respondents that currently offer a CDHP
the predicted 2009 cost increase averaged 4.5 percent, compared to 6.4 percent for respondents not
offering a CDHP.
CDHPs are
significantly less expensive than traditional PPOs or HMOs. Last year, 12
percent of all employers – and 20 percent of those with 500 or more employees –
said they were “very likely” to implement a CDHP by 2009.
“This
opportunity for saving is good news for employers committed to offering health
coverage. But even though CDHPs cost about 20 percent less than a typical
medical plan, the percentage of very small employers providing employee coverage
keeps shrinking,” said Mr. Bos. “This is one of the leading causes of the
increase in the number of uninsured over the past few years, and a troublesome
finding for policymakers who were counting on these plans – specifically HSAs –
to reverse the trend.”
These are
preliminary findings from Mercer’s National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health
Plans 2008. The survey is still in the field and complete results, including the
actual cost increase for 2008, will be released by the end of the year. The
preliminary results discussed above are based on employers who responded by
August 25; these results are not weighted and represent only the 1,317 early
responders. Ultimately, around 3,000 employers will participate in the survey
and the final results will be weighted to be nationally projectable.
About Mercer
Mercer is a
leading global provider of consulting, outsourcing and investment services.
Mercer works with clients to solve their most complex benefit and human capital
issues, designing and helping manage health, retirement and other benefits. It
is a leader in benefit outsourcing. Mercer’s investment services include
investment consulting and multi-manager investment management. Mercer’s 18,000
employees are based in more than 40 countries. The company is a wholly owned
subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc., which lists its stock
(ticker symbol: MMC) on the New York, Chicago and London stock exchanges. For
more information, visitwww.mercer.com.
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