Employers Continue to Look for Savings
The recent trend of shifting more health care and benefit costs to employees is showing no signs of letting up, according to new industry research.
A survey displayed that 22 percent of employers had medical deductibles of at least $1,000 this year for in-network services for their most popular plans, according to a report in Business Insurance, compared with just 8 percent in 2008. Twice as many employers (44 percent) imposed that deductible level on out-of-network services this year, the survey found.
"The biggest change in the past two years has been the increase in cost sharing with employees," said Michael Thompson, a principal. "Employers have been careful not to shift premium costs to employees, but have decided that the better way to shift costs is to require those who use health care services to pay more."
A separate report by Milliman also points to an increase in cost sharing in PPO family plans. According to Healthcare Town Hall, a website sponsored by Milliman, the survey found that the average premium cost of those plans this year increased $1,319, or 7.3 percent. Of the total cost increase, employers paid $641, while workers picked up the rest, totaling an increase of $275 in additional cost sharing and an additional $403 in payroll contributions..
Many employers, however, are searching for solutions beyond deductible increases. More employers -- especially midsize companies -- are turning to voluntary benefits to reduce their burden while still offering valuable benefits to their employees, according to a new LIMRA study. While employers traditionally have used voluntary benefits as a morale booster, nearly 80 percent of polled employers said they are most interested in voluntary worksite benefits because they bring no direct costs to their business, an onlinePLANSPONSOR news report noted. Two-thirds said they offer such benefits because it boosts their overall benefits package and allows workers to receive services cheaper than if they tried to buy coverage in the marketplace.
Although the trend of cost sharing is growing, U.S. workers are starting to see improvements in their overall compensation, which is creeping back toward pre-recession levels, according to a recent survey published on the Society for Human Resource Management's website. Only 9 percent of polled employers still have a pay freeze in place - down from 48 percent in mid-2010. More companies also are restarting bonus programs in an effort to retain top talent, the survey said.
Voluntary benefits can help contain company costs
To recap a previous blog post before jumping straight in to the questions: Voluntary benefit plans help employers round out their employee benefit offerings amid cutbacks in company-paid core health care, allowing employers to provide employees with additional benefits without bearing the weight of increasing cost pressures. These optional benefits can serve as value-added tools to help attract and retain top talent. Employees often pay 100 percent of the premium on these voluntary benefits through payroll deduction. Many of these benefits can be offered to family and friends as well. It's up to the employee; it's their money, and it's not costing the employer anything.
How can companies determine if adding a voluntary benefit program is the right choice for them?
They have to look at the true cost of running a company. Adding a voluntary benefit program can help offset those costs for them. Many companies are looking to ways to cut costs in the health insurance arena. It is extremely costly to maintain these major benefits. Often, what these companies are doing, ultimately, is passing those costs on to their employees.
Most voluntary benefit programs will help reduce that cost to employees because of the unique system of these benefits. If employers decide to lower their cost of mandatory benefits by passing some of that cost on to their employees, the employees can then offset those costs by participating in, for example, auto and home insurance programs saving them money over the traditional coves they would shop on their own.
What should companies look for in a voluntary benefit program?
You want to choose a company that can provide access to a variety of types of voluntary coverage and choice for your employees in the plans available. The last thing you would want to do is to present a variety of new benefits to your employees, only to have them ultimately be confused about the different types of coverage, from different sources and the costs of each one. You will want to work with a company that can provide a powerful, effective and simple voluntary benefits package that will be communicated clearly to your employees to achieve the highest level of participation and acknowledgement of the added perks.
What is the benefit of having several policies within the same voluntary benefit package?
Simply put, the renewal process for any benefit plan can be extensive to research and implement at the term of each and every policy, not to mention having to do that multiple times across multiple carriers for multiple plans. That is a huge migraine in the making just thinking about it! By having your plan developed and presented in a unified way to your employees, you will not only save administrative costs communicating these benefits, but you will also save time and money when it comes time to renew.
If you have additional voluntary benefit questions, please do not hesitate to contact our office to learn more!