Enrollment in high-deductible health plans with a health savings account is on the rise and employers are increasingly dropping preferred provider organizations as an option in their health plans.
Those are two of the key findings in the just-out 2019 Employee Benefits Benchmark Survey, which is designed to gauge how employers are responding to continually rising health care costs and is conducted by Zywave, a leading insurance software provider.
The survey, based on the responses of more than 500 employers, found that 62 percent of the respondents still offer a PPO plan, although that is a 7 percent decrease from 2017.
In the meantime, annual worker and employer contributions for individual and family coverage remained at pretty much the same level as 2017.
The survey found that more than half of respondents contribute $5,000 or less for worker individual premiums annually and $10,000 or less for worker family premiums annually.
On other fronts, to help manage prescription drug costs, more employers are promoting mail-order drug services with their employees and are increasingly requiring the use of generic drugs when available.
The percentage of employers offering basic life insurance increased significantly to 88 percent (up from 76 percent in 2017). About 65 percent of employers that offer life insurance provide a specific dollar amount of coverage, while about 35 percent of employers offer life insurance based on employees’ salaries.
And the number of employers that offer accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D) coverage increased by about 11 percent from 2017 to 2019.
Its findings, Zywave said, are a good indication that employers continue to use benefits as a tool to attract top talent and to improve the lives of their employees.
I couldn’t agree more. And yet too many employers, even those with the best intentions, can make a mess of their plan design.
If you’re interested in learning what other businesses in your area and industry are offering, feel free to reach out. Together, we can develop a plan that allows you and your employees to get more out of your health benefits plan.
Tyler Perry is an Insurance Advisor in CCIG’s Employee Benefits division. He can be reached at 720-330-7934 or Tyler.Perry@thinkccig.com.
CCIG is a Denver-area insurance and employee benefits brokerage with the full-service capabilities of a national brokerage. We do more than make sure you have the right policy. We also help you manage your long-term cost of risk with our risk and claims management expertise and a commitment to service excellence.
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