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Employers (health care information for the employer segment)

What's Here? For over 60 years, the primary way individuals received health insurance was through their place of employment. Today, employers continue to pick up most of the costs of health care and those costs are now impacting their ability to compete in either a local or global marketplace. With the passage of the Affordable Care Act, many employers are now considering the best ways to provide health care for their employees- many will likely decide to get out of the game completely. We're including information that provides some perspectives and information for employers to help identify what's happening today- and what may be happening in the future.

NEW Employment-Based Health Benefits; Trends in Access and Coverage; 1997-2010; Employee Benefit Research Institute; April, 2012 (Not surprisingly, the number of individuals covered under employer-based plans between 1997 and 2010 declined from 60.3% to 56.5%. And its probably going to decline even further in the years ahead.) Posted 5-4-12

Power to the People- The Role of Consumer-Controlled Personal Health Management Systems; RAND Corporation, September, 2011 (We continue to throw new things out to help consumers become more active participants in health care- but the primary obstacle remains in place- consumers are not yet engaged. This is an interesting look at the evolution of personal health systems evolution, their success (or not), and the challenges that still remain to help them work better) Posted 9-29-11

Employer Health Benefits 2011 Annual Survey; Kaiser Family Foundation and Health Research and Educational Trust, September, 2011 (As expected, health care premiums jumped almost 9% and the average employer-based family health care plan exceeded $15,000. Employee contributions continued to increase dramatically as well. Even though the Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010- it has done very little to put the breaks on an unsustainable trend in health care costs. We'll see if 2012 is better- but don't expect too much) Posted 9-29-11

Exchange Functions in the Individual Market: Eligibility Determination; Exchange Standards for Employers; Department of Health and Human Services; Federal Register; (Trying to comprehend the details involved with Health Insurance Exchanges, Subsidies, Penalties and all the rest is simply overwhelming. This is the Federal Register of the proposed rules for the Exchange Standards for Employers; just simply posting it FYI in case you want to get a handle on some of the details) Posted 8-25-11

Employment-Based Health Benefits and Taxation: Implications of Efforts to Reduce the Deficit and National Debt; Employee Benefits Research Institute; July 2011 (As Congress looks at ways to reduce the debt, and health care reform becomes more of a reality (Exchanges, etc) employers will have some tough decisions. The tax preference with employment-based health coverage is the largest tax expenditure in the U.S. budget---- $1.1 trillion in foregone revenue between 2012-2016. It is likely to be a target) Posted 8-3-11

Health and Well-Being Touchstone Survey; Executive Summary; PriceWaterHouse; June, 2010 (An exceptional overview of employer trends and future strategies) Posted 7-14-11

How Education and Household Income Affect HSA and HRA Balances; Employee Benefits Research Institute; 2011 (As HRAs and HSAs continue to grow, this little cheat-sheet from EBRI shows how the education level and other demographics impact the ways individuals are spending their money); Posted 6-8-11

How Your Pharmacy Benefit Manager Makes Money; E.P.I.C.; May, 2011; (An interesting overview of terms, transactions, and approaches to understand how pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) make money in our current health care environment); Posted 6-8-11

Who Might Respond to Financial Incentives That use Lower Cost Sharing to Change Behavior; Findings from the 2010 Health Confidence Survey; Employee Benefits Research Institute; December, 2010 (The average length of time to stay with an employer= 5.2 years. Younger consumers, minorities, and lower income individuals more receptive to changing behavior to reduce cost. An interesting perspective) Posted 12-27-10

Findings From the 2010 EBRI/MBA Consumer Engagement In Health Survey; Employee Benefits Research Institute; December, 2010 (An overview of the demographics and characteristics of the CDHP (Consumer Directed) and HDHP (High Deductible) markets. As expected, more are moving to high deductible programs leading to more cost and quality awareness on the part of the consumer) Posted 12-27-10

The Benefits Package; Healthcare Reform; HRO Today/Mercer; June, 2010 (Provides a summary of the challenges facing HR leaders and providers to manage change and costs in the era of escalating costs and health care reform) Posted 12-16-10

Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance Erosion Accelerates In the Recession; Economic Policy Institute; November, 2010 (Another picture of the decline in employer-sponsored health care during the Great Recession of 2008. The system caught the kids who lost coverage- but missed the adults) Posted 11-20-10