(Credit: ChristianDelbert/Shutterstock.com)

As poll after poll reveals, Americans are mostly still happy with theiremployer-provided insurance (unless they have high deductibles). A new study endeavors toanswer a somewhat less addressed question: How happy are employerswith their health plans?

Short answer: Not very.

In June 2020, independent national health care watchdog The Leapfrog Group conducted a survey of 174employers representing an estimated 4 million insured. Thesurvey asked these employers to identify which health plan or plansthey contracted with, and to rate those plans on four criteria:

• Responsiveness of the health plan toemployer concerns;
• Transparency in helping employers and employees choosethe best providers;
• Payment reform initiatives that incentivize excellencein the market; and
• Value strategies driven by health plans

At 71%, Cigna rated the highest for responsiveness to employerpriorities. Aetna followed at 63%, while United Healthcare and BlueCross Blue Shield tied at 52%. Cigna and Aetna also led the pack atputting employer needs above the contracted provider needs, butonly at 38% each. BCBS rated 23%, with UHC bringing up the rear at14%.

Employer satisfaction takes a bit of a dip when it comes totransparency. Overall, 56% of employers saidtheir plans made it easy to get usable data, while 43% said theirplans provided employees with information on quality. Only 29% weresatisfied with their plan's transparency in comparing the qualityof hospital systems used by their employees. Cigna led the pack forusable data at 67% and giving employees information on quality at54%. Aetna took the lead at transparency with hospital systems, butonly at 31%, with Cigna at 29%.

Courtesy of The LeapfrogGroup.

About a quarter of employer respondents reported usingalternative payment models within their health plans, and an equalamount reported being satisfied with their health plans' use ofAPMs. Employers were most satisfied with Aetna's use of APMs,followed by Cigna at 25%, UHC at 19% and BCBS at 17%.

Only a little over half of the employers surveyed were satisfiedwith their health plans helping to reduce unnecessary costs. UHCrated the lowest on this element at 43%. Cigna rated the highest at58%, followed by Aetna at 50% and BCBS at 47%. Cigna also rated thehighest, at 79%, for caring about quality, with UHC scoring thelowest at 52%.

Asked to grade their health plans overall from A to F, employersgraded BCBS the highest at 2.56, with Cigna not far behind.

Courtesy of The LeapfrogGroup.

"The survey should serve as a wake-up call to health plans,"said Leah Binder, President & CEO of The Leapfrog Group."Employers are not convinced they are doing all they can to improvequality and cost-effectiveness. Health plans need to be moreresponsive to employer demands for improvements in healthcare."

Read more: 

• COVID pandemic puts spotlight on consumers' healthplan dissatisfaction
• If ever there was a time to rethinkemployer-sponsored health plans, this is it
• Benefits satisfaction increasing, but health carecosts still vex employees