Organizations can reduce health care costs along a number of fronts: outsourcing of open enrollment can cut administrative costs; consumer-driven and high-deductible health plans can encourage wiser spending on health care; and health/disease management programs can reduce costs by keeping employees healthier. There is also the more direct cost savings route of reducing benefits or passing on costs to employees.
Health and disease management programs attempt to help employees by reducing chronic or preventable illness while simultaneously helping employers cut health care costs. Health and disease management programs are common; about 75% of large organizations offer them and just over 50% of small organizations do so.
Organizations found many different avenues for reducing benefits, including:
"For CAT scans employees pay $150."
"Co-pay was doubled."
"We reduced infertility benefits and removed gastric bypass."
"The 401(K) match for the 2010 year was cancelled."
"Long-term disability, vision, and dental are now completely at the employee's expense."
"We reduced personal days off."
"Long-term disability, vision, and dental are now completely at the employee's expense."
"We had a 7% increase in medical and 2% increase in dental."
"There are now restrictions on family size beyond which the employee meets the full cost."
A 2009 survey by Aetna showed that employers that offered CDHPs saved $7 million per 10,000 enrolled members over five years; that works out to a savings of $140/employee/year.
40% of all organizations feel 24/7 support is important
Close to 60% of organizations with a HDHP offer employees a matching contribution.
Adoption of consumer-driven health plans and high-deductible health plans has stabilized with about half of small and mid-sized organizations, and close to two-thirds of large organizations providing these programs to employees.
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