Health Care Cost Control

HEALTH CARE COST CONTROL THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY Employers use many strategies to control the cost of health care. Here are the best and the worst strategies and what the research says about them. Use this information to control health care costs at your worksite. STOP OFFERING A HEALTH BENEFIT + O Many companies already are sending part time employees to the exchanges. $13,700 O Most companies want to provide health care, but it may be cheaper to send all employees to the exchanges. the cost of medical care per Whether you offer health benefits or not, the cost will continue to go up. person per year in the U.S.1 COST SHIFT CHANGE CARRIERS Charge more for employees with dependents or Negotiate better rates spouses. This Strategy DEAD END Make employees pay a larger portion of the cost. The more you cost shift, the more you hurt employee morale. helps but it doesn't solve the cost problem Let healthy employees and wellness program participants pay less 5 SELF INSURE Employers maintain a fund to cover possible medical costs losses rather than by purchasing an insurance policy PERCENTAGE OF EMPLOYERS WITH SELF INSURED HEALTH CARE PLANS': (5) 16% 58% % 79% 94% of employers with 3-199 workers of employers with 200-999 workers of employers with 1000-5000 workers of employers with 5000+ workers 4%-7% how much self funding can save per year HIGH DEDUCTIBLE PLANS A high-deductible health plan (HDHP) is a health insurance plan with lower premiums and higher deductibles than a traditional health plan. Percent of Insured Workers with High Deductible Plans 50% 1 Deductible Greater than $1,000 I Deductible Greater than $2,000 40% 34%* 31%* 30% 27%* 22%* 20% 18%* 14% 12%* 12% 10% 10%* 10% 7% 5% 3% 3% 0% 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 5%-14% high deductible plans can save each year? high deductible plans are more popular than ever These plans save money because employees are more careful how they spend their health care dollars. ONSITE CLINICS H Small health care clinics at the worksite Employees like onsite clinics. They may help improve employee productivity. Published studies have failed to show that onsite clinics actually save money. DISEASE MANAGEMENT (DM) The research sayst: DM can improve patient care Strategies to manage the chronic conditions May improve health outcomes DM doesn't appear to save money of high-risk, high-cost patients. The 80/20 Principle: ee 20% of employees are responsible for 80% of health care costs Use wellness programs to 59% the percent of high keep the well, well. Then they won't need DM and you'll save money O% cost employees that will be new, next year WORKSITE WELLNESS PROGRAMS The research says wellness programs Save health care costs Improve employee health Prevent expensive chronic diseases %24 Reduce absenteeism V Improve employee morale $3.58 Bend The Medical Cost Trend -what happens when worksites implement effective wellness programs the amount saved for every dollar spent on employee wellness WellSteps www.WellSteps.com Sources: 1. http://kaiserfamilyfoundation.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/8465-employer-health-benefits-20132.pdf 2. http://www.rwjf.org/content/dam/farm/reports/reports/2012/rwjf402405/subassets/rwjf402405_1 3. Onsite Clinics Review: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22418274 4. Disease Management Reviews: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15300966 CMS Report: http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa1011785 Goetzel et al.: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17288065 5. Wellness Review: http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/pdf/workplacewellnessmarketreview2012.pdf Health Affairs: http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/29/2/304.abstract %24