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Increase in Insurance Premiums
Benefits & Compensation
Increase in Insurance Premiums
Exchange ideas about health plans, retirement, work/life benefits, and employee assistance.
I am hearing from several people that the increase in the employee portion of health insurance premiums for their companies for the next Plan Year are going up by a very large percentage. The reason b
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Forums » Topic Forums » Benefits & Compensation » Increase in Insurance Premiums
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Increase in Insurance Premiums
posted at 11/5/2010 7:36 AM EDT
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Posts: 2146
First: 2/15/2006 Last: 9/14/2011 |
We have 6 employees, three of whom waive because they are covered under their spouse's plan and 2 employees on COBRA currently. Our population has dwindled. And unfortunately trend was 10.9% and our demographics up'd it another 16% and then a 2% upcharge for a "nongrandfathered plan" (which in and of itself is a direct impact of the Health Reform Act). I forget where the other 6% is....
We are looking at options. Possibly dropping employer funding in the HSAs this year. We were generous last year and just can't afford to be this year. |
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Increase in Insurance Premiums
posted at 11/6/2010 9:07 AM EDT
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Posts: 1047
First: 4/11/2002 Last: 9/14/2011 |
Sorry that you fall under the small group umbrella rupert. Options will be few. Increase the deductible as much as you can and find an alternative to back fill the difference for your employees. If an insurance carrier is going to make 25% to 30% in administration on premiums, give them as little possible without completely gutting your benefits. |
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Increase in Insurance Premiums
posted at 11/8/2010 3:09 AM EST
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Posts: 2146
First: 2/15/2006 Last: 9/14/2011 |
That was our solution last year when we went to a HDHP at $5k deductible with a large HSA contribution....
This is the worst year so far out of the last 6. I don't see it getting any better either. |
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Increase in Insurance Premiums
posted at 11/16/2010 5:35 AM EST
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Posts: 34
First: 8/2/2000 Last: 6/22/2011 |
We are a small group of under 50 in NY City and therefore have pooled rates. Our insurer is United HealthCare and I just received the renewal rates yesterday for our POS Plan for 1/1/2011. I have been hearing what most on this post have been saying...that rate increases were going through the roof for 2011. My broker had told me he'd been seeing increases for small groups anywhere from a 15% - 40% so I was shaking in my HR boots. So when the increase came in at -1.5% I was incredulous. Granted, the insurer made two big involuntary changes to all their plans for next year. One was changing the mininum cost for their drug card to $10/$30/$60 w/$100 deductible and the other more major change was the way it will reimburse for Out-of-Network charges. In 2011 they are moving to using 140% of the published Medicare rate, which will be substantially less than was being riembursed before. These changes no doubt contributed to our rate decrease. |
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Increase in Insurance Premiums
posted at 11/30/2010 4:49 AM EST
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Posts: 26
First: 1/28/2003 Last: 11/30/2010 |
We are self-insured and have about 925 employees. Through a combination of effective use of our plans some negotiation and plan changes, our medical and dental plan rates will increase only 3.1% in 2011. |
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Increase in Insurance Premiums
posted at 12/1/2010 7:14 AM EST
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Posts: 1047
First: 4/11/2002 Last: 9/14/2011 |
What everyone should be comparing is trend. If you received an increase lower than that, it was probably more dumb luck more than anything unless you are aggressively managing claims or engaging your workforce. And indicating what increases are AFTER plan changes is fairly meaningless unless you know the actuarial value of the changes and can add the 2 together. |
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Increase in Insurance Premiums
posted at 12/1/2010 7:35 AM EST
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Posts: 2146
First: 2/15/2006 Last: 9/14/2011 |
I have to agree... I wonder if you compared last years EXACT benefit plan to one this year, what the trend upward is? That is what we did...we stayed with the same features, but lowered the HSA amount contributed by the employer.
In past years, we have already increased copays, deductibles, in/out network, etc. This year, I could not find a single feature that I could change to lower our rates....even higher deductibles had worse rates! So it paid to stay where we are even with the 34% increase! If we hadn't made those changes in past years, but kept the old features, we would have eaten some of the increase more over time than we did. So I think many of those who are having lower overall increases are making major changes to their plans. Whether that be deductibles, copays, features, etc. |
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