Mercer is offering health care spending junkies a sneak previewat data still in the development stage. The news looks good —employers are again reporting that they’re improving theircontainment of health care costs as acorporate line item.

Here are the highlights from this large-scale survey of U.S.corporations:

• After plan design alterations, employers say they expect anaverage cost increase of 4.2 percent;

• This marks the fifth straight year employers have kept costincreases under an informal target of 5 percent;

• Consensus is building around the use of consumer-directed plansremain to avoid paying the so-called Cadillac tax.

The news about the cost estimate is especially buoying becausethe actual 2014 increase as reported by employers was slightly lessthan 4 percent.

And there’s more good news: Employers reported that, if theymade no design changes, the increase would be about 6.4 percent —down from 7.1 percent for 2015 “and ... the lowest rate ofunderlying cost growth seen since Mercer began collecting thisinformation in 2005.”

No wonder Mercer wanted to leak the results early.

“While health benefit cost growth is still well above CPI, thegood news — for employers and employees — is that employers don’thave to trim as much to get cost increases to a more reasonablelevel,” says Tracy Watts, senior partner and Mercer’s NationalHealth Reform Leader.

The survey found that 54 percent of employers will continue totinker with plan design to keep their focus on cost containment.Such action can only help if and when the excise tax on “rich”employer sponsored plans — the Cadillac tax — takes effect in2018.

Another highlight: 42 percent said they intend to add or expandwellness programs nextyear.

“It may be tough to measure, but a lot of employers believeinvestments in programs to improve employee health have paid off inmedical plan savings,” says Beth Umland, Mercer’s Director ofResearch for Health and Benefits. “While there are many opinionsabout why we’re seeing a slow-down in benefit cost growthnationally, efforts to educate, engage and support employees inimproving their health should make every employers’ to-dolist.”