Employee Medical Plans Will See Big Changes Next Year

Posted in Group Health Insurance , Health Insurance

October 9th, 2009

As the Senate Finance Committee works tirelessly to craft an agreed-upon health care bill to vote on, employers are taking steps to make their own changes to employee medical plans. According to 2009 Benefits and Talent Survey by Aon Consulting, 41 percent of employers plan to do more major changes to their 2010 medical program than they did in 2009.

Here are a couple notes from the survey:

• 70 percent of those employers surveyed plan to increase employee contributions in 2010.
• 67 percent plan to increase deductibles, co-pays, coinsurance, or out-of-pocket maximums.

The moral of the story is that employers plan to shift a major portion of financial responsibility to their employees. But the reason for the shift is to have employees share the burden of the double-digit increases employers are facing. Health care has just become too expensive to manage, so by having employees share in the burden, they can continue to offer it as an option.

Employers are also taking on alternative options to help curb health care costs. One is by participating in dependent eligibility verification audits. Twenty percent of respondents plan to take part in this process, which verifies all dependents actually qualify for coverage. This practice is said to have saved between three and 10 percent in dependent health care costs last year.

Another program employers are increasing in 2010 is their wellness programs. According to the study, more than half of employers plan to introduce or expand a wellness program and 34 percent plan to introduce or increase financial incentives to participate in wellness programs. Adding these types of programs can help encourage good health so that workers may not need to use their insurance as often.

How would an increase in employee contributions for health benefits affect your budget?