New Health Care Benefits Survey Shows Both Employees and Their Employers Pay More

April 1, 2011 - PRLog -- ERI Economic Research Institute, Redmond, Washington. Employers are struggling to control health care costs with many tactics – in addition to just paying more, they are also moving to less costly options (such as a High Deductible Health Plan combined with a Health Savings Account) and continuing to increase employee contributions (not only the monthly premium, but also plan deductibles and co-payments).  Recent data from January 2011 collected and analyzed by ERI Salary Surveys now details employer responses to the uncertainties and ever-increasing costs of health care.  

The new 2011 Health Care Benefits Benchmarking Survey was released by ERI Salary Surveys on April 1, 2011. Two hundred employers across the United States with almost 318,000 workers provided information and details of 297 medical plans and 232 dental plans, all effective January 2011. The report provides a timely baseline for employers wishing to benchmark their health plan costs and practices with other employers. This is the fourth annual survey, and the information helps identify trends in health care costs and coverage to better inform decisions about medical plans, changes, and strategies for effective benefits management.

Some highlights of the survey include:

•   Provision of Medical Benefits
o   Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) plans remained the most prevalent type of medical benefits delivery; 57% of respondents offered PPOs.
o   Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) plans were less common, offered by 18% of respondents.
o   The number of HMO plans actually declined from 2010 to 2011; the majority were found in the western United States.
o   Employee participation in a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) combined with a Health Savings Plan increased dramatically from 2009 to 2011, reaching 10%.
•   Cost of Medical Benefits through PPOs
o   Average employee cost for PPOs for employee-only coverage in 2011 is $128.47 per month, an increase of 59% over 2010.
o   Average employer cost for employee-only coverage in 2011 is $420.73 per month, an increase of about 8% from last year, but still representing 77% of the total premium cost.
•   Dental Coverage
o   97% offer dental plans, an increase of 12% from 2010; 69% of their employees enrolled.
o   Average employee cost for employee-only coverage in 2011 is $18.16 per month; average employer cost for employee-only coverage in 2011 is $31.73 per month, representing 64% of the total premium.

The new 2011 Health Care Benefits Benchmarking Survey report, available for $289 at www.salary-surveys.erieri.com, provides details on the findings listed above, as well as additional information (such as length of employment requirements for coverage; availability of vision care coverage; breakouts by size and type of employer and geographic location, including Canada; etc.)

For those interested specifically in benefits for nonprofits, the 2011 Benefits in Nonprofit Organizations, 11th Edition will be available from ERI Salary Surveys in July 2011.

About ERI Salary Surveys:
ERI Salary Surveys (http://salary-surveys.erieri.com) provides compensation and benefits survey reports to customers and subscribers. Numerous industry-specific and job function surveys are published annually with data from for-profit organizations that vary in size from extremely small to more than four billion dollars in annual sales volume. Survey submissions may be made online, via email, or in the old-fashioned paper and pencil format. In 2007, Abbott Langer Association Surveys was purchased by ERI Economic Research Institute and brought into ERI Salary Surveys to focus primarily on the nonprofit sector. Both sites are operated by (http://www.erieri.com) ERI Economic Research Institute, Inc.  

Please call (877) 210-6563 or visit (http://salary-surveys.erieri.com) and  for more information and a complete list of available surveys.

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ERI Economic Research Institute was founded in 1987 to provide compensation, benefits, and Human Resource research for private and public organizations in the form of published reports and software database products.