Critical Health Plan Data Available to Employers
10/09/2007 11:44 am
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L.R. Webber Associates, Inc., in conjunction with United Benefit Advisors (UBA) (http://benefits.com), an alliance of 142 of the nation's premier independent benefit advisory firms, released Tuesday the results of its third annual employer-sponsored health plan benchmark survey.
With responses from 16,485 health plans sponsored by 11,723 employers nationwide who employ nearly 1.9 million people (approximately 4.5 million total lives), the 2007 UBA/LRW Health Plan Survey is the nation's largest and most comprehensive survey of plan design and plan costs.
"With a growth rate of approximately 20% over last year's previously unprecedented number of respondents, the report defines benchmarks for a greater number of specific industries, regions, and employee size categories than have been available previously," says Booker Moore, President/CEO, L.R. Webber Associates, Inc. "The results will be especially valuable to employers in evaluating the effectiveness of their current plans and to knowledgeably make future adjustments while keeping their benefits both competitive and cost-effective."
The survey report provides vital benchmark statistics on hundreds of health plan factors, including detailed enrollment, plan design, plan cost, employee premium cost-sharing, prescription drug, retiree plan, and flexible spending account norms. Among the survey's numerous findings:
• The average annual health plan cost per employee is $6,881 (medical only coverage), with an average employee cost of $3,110 and an average employer cost of $3,771 per employee.
• Average premiums for all plans were $347 for single coverage and $848 for family (a weighted average of all non-single coverage’s).
• 32.7% of all plans required no employee contributions, and 8.3% required no family contributions. Of plans requiring contributions, employees contributed an average of 26.6% of premium or $90 for single coverage and 46.8% or $385 for family coverage.
• Average premiums increased 7.2% for all plans (after any plan adjustments) versus 8.6% last year.
• Consumer Driven Plans (plans with an HRA or HSA) now represent 8.8% of all plans offered by employers versus 5.8% last year; with 6.0% of all covered employees now enrolled in such plans (notably up from 3.4% last year).
"The intent of the survey is to provide not only large employers with effective plan benchmarks, but most importantly to provide the 98.8% of employer plan sponsors who have fewer than 1,000 employees with benchmarking data that is critical in managing their programs effectively," says Moore. "With an increasing number of employers having operations in multiple locations, a genuinely national survey of this size and scope is the most effective way to deliver that information."
For more information about the survey or L.R. Webber Associates, Inc. please contact Brad Webber at bwebber@lrwebber.com.
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