Experts at Aon Consulting say employees may notice substantial changes to their medical plan for 2010, including a drastic increase in worker contributions. However, according to a new survey, companies are trying to offset these rising health care costs by expanding wellness programs to promote a healthier and more productive workforce.
In its "2009 Benefits & Talent Survey," Aon Consulting found 70 percent of employers plan to increase employee contributions, and 67 percent expect to raise deductibles, co-pays, coinsurance or out-of-pocket maximums next year.
"As in year's past, many employers are expecting to shift additional health care costs to employees in 2010 to share the burden of double-digit rate increases," said John Zern, U.S. Health & Benefits Practice Director with Aon Consulting in a statement. "However, it may be more dramatic next year, as many organizations try to avoid taking other drastic measures such as layoffs or salary freezes."
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The good news, Zern says, is that more than half of employers plan to introduce or expand a wellness program next year, and 34 percent intend to introduce or increase financial incentives for wellness programs.
To further reduce employer and employee health care costs, employers also have been implementing various types of audits, according to the survey. Specifically, 46 percent of organizations conducted a dependent eligibility verification audit in 2009 or earlier, and 20 percent are planning to do so in 2010 or later.
"Employers who conduct dependent eligibility audits can see immediate savings ranging from 3 percent to 10 percent in dependent health care costs," said Tom Lerche, U.S. Health Care Practice Leader with Aon Consulting. "Achieving savings from removal of ineligible dependents may reduce the need for further employee layoffs and will ensure program integrity," he added.
Other audits employers are planning to implement in 2010 or later include electronic prescription drug (16 percent of employers); medical claims (13 percent); and prescription rebate (12 percent).
Employers are also offering wellness and disease management initiatives to help improve the health care cost trend in the long-term. In 2010 or later, 79 percent of employers are planning on promoting exercise/physical activity initiatives.
In order to measure progress, organizations offer employees a health risk appraisal (HRA) and biometric screenings as benchmarks. While more than half of organizations have already offered both an HRA and biometric screenings, 20 percent are planning to implement an HRA and 16 percent are planning to implement biometric screenings as early as next year.
Employers are also tracking the status of wellness or disease management programs. The top health measures they are tracking include:
- Medical costs of chronic conditions (45 percent)
- Participation in corporate wellness/preventive activities (36 percent)
- Participation in corporate disease management programs (32 percent)
- Biometric data (28 percent)
"While these numbers are encouraging, the overwhelming majority of employers are still not tracking the indirect affect of chronic conditions: presenteeism and absenteeism," Berger said. "Only 10 percent of employers are tracking measures of presenteeism, and only 13 percent are tracking absence costs of chronic conditions."
"Once employers know the impact chronic conditions have on their employees' productivity and absences from the workforce, they can begin to make greater improvements to their programs to lower health risk factors and build a healthier, more productive workforce," Berger added. "Done right, a wellness program will reduce medical trend, presenteeism, absences from work and the incidence and duration of disability."
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