Large-Employer Growth: The number of employers that offer consumer-driven
health plans is rising, while the number of workers enrolled in these programs
has doubled over the last two years, according to a recent survey of large
employers conducted by Watson Wyatt Worldwide and the National Business Group on
Health.
Companies with high enrollment in their consumer-driven health plans are
facing only half of the health care cost increases that companies offering
traditional health care coverage are facing, the survey says. Almost half of the
453 large employers surveyed offer a consumer-driven health plan, up from 39
percent last year and 33 percent in 2006, the survey says. By 2009, 54 percent
of companies surveyed say they plan to offer a consumer-driven health plan.
Fifteen percent of employees at companies that offer consumer-driven health
plans are enrolled in these plans, up from 8 percent in 2006 and 10 percent in
2007. Companies spent an average of $7,211 on health care per employee in 2007.
The study predicts that this number will jump to $7,620 in 2008.
Another, less optimistic view of consumer-driven plan growth comes from a
recent Mercer survey. It showed that the percentage of employees enrolled in a
consumer-driven health plan with a health savings account or a health
reimbursement account rose slightly from 3 percent of all covered employees in
2006 to 5 percent in 2007. The survey also showed, however, that employer
adoption of consumer-driven plans slowed in 2007 and will moderate again in
2008.
= Member Only
