Cost Increases, Changes Coming To Health Plans

August 23, 2011 by Christian Schappel

Posted in: Health care, Management, Money, Pay and benefits, Special Report - Benefits

Surprise. Surprise. Healthcare costs are going up in 2012, and employers are responding by changing their plans. Here’s a snapshot of what they’re doing.

Employers are deploying a few different strategies:

53% plan to increase the percentage that employees contribute to their premiums
39% say they’ll increase in-network deductibles
23% will increase out-of-network deductibles, and
22% will increase out-of-pocket maximums.

That’s according to a recent survey of 83 large employers by the National Business Group on Health, a non-profit association of 329, mostly large employers.

Projected increases

Spurring these changes are healthcare cost projections for next year: Employers estimate their costs will increase by an average of 7.2% in 2012, the survey found.

This year, those same employers have seen their costs go up 7.4%.

Making better consumers out of employees

Another plan employers will use to keep costs down: Offer health plans and wellness programs designed to make employees more sensitive to the costs of their medical care.

A rundown:

73% say they’ll offer at least one consumer-directed health plan (CDHP) in 2012 (a steep increase from the 61% that offered one this year)
17% plan to have or move to a total replacement CDHP
57% already provide employees’ spouses and domestic partners access to weight management coaches, and
54% provide access to online weight management tools.

Tags: CDHP, consumer-directed health plan, cost projections, deductibles, healthcare costs, National Business Group on Health, premiums, survey

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5 Responses to “Cost Increases, Changes Coming To Health Plans”

Common Sense Says:
August 25th, 2011 at 1:57 pm
I thought Mr. Obama said premiums would not go up and I would be able to keep my plan… These are only two of the proven lies that were used to sell this program.
Real Common Sense Says:
August 29th, 2011 at 10:21 am
I have been purchasing health care insurance for both small and large companies since the 1980s and in the majority of those years there was a double digit percentage increase in the premium cost. To compensate for these increases, employers have changed/reduced coverages, increased deductibles/co-pays or passed more of the cost on to employees … employers have been taking these cost saving measures for years. It is a shame that since the health care reform bill passed the cause for these premium increases and coverage changes are are being associated with the new regulations … when the bulk of the bill hasn’t even gone into effect yet. I don’t agree with everything in the bill however with or without the health care reform bill there would still be premium increases, coverage changes and cost shifting.
Common Sense Says:
August 30th, 2011 at 1:22 pm
@ Pseudo common sense. Candidate Obama repeatedly promised to cut insurance premiums by an average of $2,500 per family. His legislation has only caused them to go up above and beyond the normal increases. You bemoan “It is a shame that since the health care reform bill passed the cause for these premium increases and coverage changes are are being associated with the new regulations … when the bulk of the bill hasn’t even gone into effect yet.” I can hardly wait to see how much they go up if/when the rest of the unconstituional bill is implemented. Obama is lying my bank account and freedoms are dying.
MMAN Says:
September 7th, 2011 at 12:59 pm
@ common sense. I agree with real common sense. Healthcare premiums have been rising for like ever now. Now there is something all the bureaucrats in the insurance companies and medical institutions can blame it on- healthcare reform.
Common Sense Says:
September 8th, 2011 at 1:32 pm
@MMAN. No one denies that “healthcare premiums have been rising for like ever now”. Healthcare inflation is the natural byproduct of innovation in prescriptions and doctor/hospital diagnostics/procedures. The alternative is never innovate and keep premiums low. What world do you want to live in when you have cancer or other disease, low premiums and 1940 medicine or high premiums and modern day medicine? The problem with the most recent premium increases is they go above and beyond normal increases because obamacare now requires insurance carriers to provide coverage for “free” procedures (like mammograms) and coverage for people like 25 year old “adult” children who have no business being on a parents policy.