New Survey Reveals Rising Healthcare Costs for Central PA Employees and Families
Harrisburg, PA (PRWEB) May 21, 2014 -- Conrad Siegel Actuaries, delivering comprehensive employee benefits services, announced today the results of its annual Medical and Prescription Drug Benefits survey, an employee benefits survey for the Central PA region.
The survey found that healthcare premium costs are rising for employees and their families, a trend that has continued over the past four years. The employee benefits survey found that 89 percent of the companies who responded required employees to share in the cost of their health premiums in 2013.
“We continue to see that as healthcare costs rise, employers are faced with the challenge of trying to contain costs,” said Rob Glus, partner at Conrad Siegel Actuaries. “To soften the increase to the company budget, many employers have increased plan premiums for spousal coverage or have eliminated coverage for spouses who have access to their own employer-sponsored coverage. In short, we are seeing many companies protecting coverage for their own employees by cutting back in some way on spousal coverage.”
Over 100 companies of all sizes responded to the survey with 61 percent coming from organizations with more than 100 employees. Companies that responded to the survey were from many different industries including Education, Healthcare, Social Assistance, Government, and Manufacturing.
What is the Most Prevalent Plan Deductible Today?
Over the past four years, the most common component of employer plans that has been changed to decrease healthcare costs has been the plan deductible. As more employers require an individual deductible, there has also been a shift in the most prevalent deductible. Overall, more than one-third of respondents have a deductible greater than $1000 and over half of the plans have deductibles of $500 and greater. In 2010, plans with $0 deductibles were the most common offered by respondents.
How Has Spousal Coverage Changed Over the Past Four Years?
Over 40 percent of employers are charging spouses more to be covered or not allowing them on the plan if they have access to coverage through their own employer. In fact, approximately 25 percent of employers do not cover spouses if they have access to their own employer-sponsored coverage and about 15 percent of employers charge spouses more for being on the plan. In 2012, 20 percent of employers did not cover spouses if they had coverage available through their own employer.
What Percentage of the Medical Premium Do Employees and Dependents Pay?
In addition, the number of employees and dependents with a 0 percent premium has dropped drastically. In line with changes to spousal coverage, employers pay a larger percent of healthcare coverage for their own employees than for dependents.
• In 2010, 19 percent of respondents were not charging employees and 17 percent were not charging dependents.
• In 2013, 11 percent of surveyed companies do not require employees to pay any amount of plan premiums.
• The percent of respondents’ plans that do not require premium payments for dependents decreased from 6 percent to 5 percent in 2013.
• The average percentage of premium employees paid was 14 percent and the average percentage of premium for dependents was 21 percent.
Conrad Siegel Actuaries maintains one of the largest, most comprehensive regional employee benefit databases available today in central Pennsylvania. Through its regional employee benefits survey program, Conrad Siegel Actuaries is able to benchmark the best practices surrounding local employer benefit programs.
For more information about the Conrad Siegel Actuaries Health & Welfare Survey or to participate, please contact the Benefit Survey Team at benefitsurvey(at)conradsiegel(dot)com.
About Conrad Siegel
Conrad Siegel Actuaries is one of the largest and most respected employee benefits firms in the mid-Atlantic region. Recognized as both an industry leader and a trusted advisor, the firm stands apart by offering unbiased, fee-based services backed by careful attention to detail. Conrad Siegel partners with its clients to offer a comprehensive source for all employee benefit needs. For more information, please visit http://www.conradsiegel.com.
Amanda Ratner, Abel Communications for Conrad Siegel Actuaries, http://www.conradsiegel.com, +1 (443) 869-2197 Ext: 144, [email protected]
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