Employers play a significant role in health insurance coverage for Americans – providing health benefits to more than three out of every five nonelderly Americans12 – so their attitudes, knowledge, and experiences are important factors in health policy discussions.
This year’s survey asked employers a number of questions about their responses to rising health insurance premiums, including whether they shopped for new coverage, how they view different approaches to containing cost increases, and if they plan to change their health benefit plans in the near future. We also asked firm for their views about the importance of providing a substantial contribution toward single and family coverage. We found that a significant share of firms shopped for coverage in the past year, that firms remain somewhat skeptical about the potential effectiveness of currently available cost-containment strategies, and that all large firms (200 or more workers) are likely to increase employee contributions in the future. All large firms are more likely than all small firms (3-199 workers) to believe that it is important to make a substantial contribution toward family coverage.
- Overall, 56% of firms offering health benefits say that they shopped for a new plan in the past year (Exhibit 12.1).
- Of those that shopped, 31% (or 17% of all firms) say that they switched carriers in the past year and 34% (or 19% of all firms) report that they changed the type of health plan they offer (Exhibit 12.1).13
- Among firms that reported shopping for a new health plan, jumbo firms (5,000 or more workers) are more likely than other firms to report switching carriers (46% of those that shopped; 17% of all jumbo firms) (Exhibit 12.1).
- Firms were asked to rate how effective several different strategies are in reducing the growth of health care costs. Few firms rated any one strategy as “very effective” at controlling costs.
- Disease management was rated as “very effective” by the largest percentage of employers (15%), followed by consumer-driven health plans (11%), tighter managed care networks (9%) and higher cost sharing (9%). Over 40% of employers, however, report that disease management, consumer-driven health plans, and higher cost sharing are “somewhat effective” at controlling costs (Exhibit 12.2).
