Oct 14

Written by: Besselman and Little
10/14/2011 9:25 AM 

Preliminary results have been released by United Benefit Advisors (UBA) from its 2011 UBA Health Plan Survey, the nation's largest health plan benchmarking survey. 

Consumer Driven Health Plans (CDHPs) in the U.S. experienced continued growth this year - albeit a slower rate than in 2009 and 2010. CDHPs account for 22.9% of plans offered and cover more employees (17.3%) than Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) plans (11.9%), according to Bill Stafford, UBA Vice President, Member Services.

Employers continue to offset the higher out-of-pocket costs of CDHPs by offering employees a health reimbursement arrangement (HRA) or a health savings account (HSA) and contributing funds.  The 2011 UBA Health Plan Survey found the average employer contribution to an HRA was $1,656 (up from $1,481 in 2010) for a single employee and $3,198 for a family (up from $2,857 in 2010).

Other key statistics from this year's Survey results:

• The average renewal increase for all plan types was 8.2%
• PPO plans have nearly two-thirds of all enrolled employees (64.4%)
• The average employee contribution for plans with contributions for all plan types is $117 for single and $467 for family
• 80.6% of all wellness plans offered a health risk assessment
• As a direct result of healthcare reform criteria, 81.3% of all plans now offer an unlimited lifetime maximum benefit compared to just 16.1% in 2010
• Less than half (49.9%) of all covered employees also elected to cover their dependents, a decline of 6%

As health care plan offerings become more complex, benchmarking data such as the annual UBA Health Plan Survey have become increasingly critical.  As a UBA Member Firm, Besselman & Little has access to the more than 250,000 pages of granular state, region and industry data. Give us a call to learn more about the 2011 UBA Health Plan Survey and how benchmarking can be beneficial to your business.

Source:  www.ubabenefits.com