Employees with individual coverage in consumer-driven health plans are
seeing their employers’ contributions decline, while those with family coverage
are seeing their employers’ contributions increase, according to a survey
released Tuesday, November 3, by the Employee Benefit Research Institute.
The survey by Washington-based EBRI also found that the percentage of
employers making contributions to either health reimbursement arrangements or
health savings accounts tied to consumer-driven health plans dropped from 67
percent last year to 63 percent this year.
Between 2006 and 2008, the percentage of workers with employee-only coverage
whose employer contributed at least $1,000 to either their HRA or HSA increased
from 26 percent to 37 percent; but in 2009, it fell to 32 percent.
Meanwhile, the percentage of workers with individual coverage who received an
employer contribution of less than $200 increased from 3 percent last year to 8
percent this year.
By contrast, the percentage of workers with family coverage who received a
contribution of $1,000 or more increased from 59 percent last year to 73 percent
this year. Nearly three-quarters of workers with family coverage in a CDHP now
receive an annual employer contribution of $1,000 or more, EBRI estimates.
Among other findings in the survey:
● The percentage of individuals remaining in CDHPs for three to four years
increased from 9 percent in 2006 to 26 percent in 2009, and the percentage who
remained in the plans for five years or more increased from 3 percent in 2006 to
9 percent in 2009.
● The amount of money individuals have accumulated in their accounts has
grown over time. Forty-seven percent had balances of at least $1,000 in 2009,
compared with 43 percent in 2008, 44 percent in 2007 and 25 percent in 2006.
● Only 4 percent of the adult U.S. population in 2009 is enrolled in CDHPs
linked to HSAs or HRAs, up from 3 percent in 2008.
The report, which presents findings from the 2008 and 2009 EBRI/MGA Consumer
Engagement in Health Care Surveys and the 2006 and 2007 EBRI/Commonwealth Fund
Consumerism in Health Care Surveys, was published in the November EBRI Notes and
is available online at www.ebri.org.
Filed by Joanne Wojcik
of Business
Insurance, a sister publication of Workforce
Management. To comment, e-mail editors@workforce.com.
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