California Healthline Highlights Recent News Related to Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance

Several newspapers recently published articles addressing employer-sponsored health insurance coverage. Summaries appear below.

• AP/Miami Herald: The AP/Miami Herald on Monday examined how a "growing number of businesses" are "turning to worker incentives, both big and small, to help slow health insurance costs." According to the AP/Herald, Worthington Industries, Fairview Health Services and United HealthCare are among the companies that have begun to offer employees incentives -- such as financial bonuses, gift certificates to company stores and discounts on health insurance premiums -- to take steps to improve their health. Some companies, such as HCA, maintain that such incentives have helped reduce overall health insurance costs, but, according to analysts, the long-term impact remains undetermined (Williams, AP/Miami Herald, 9/19).
  
  
• Associated Press: The Associated Press on Monday examined how some companies in New Hampshire have begun to offer high-deductible health plans that allow employees to establish health savings accounts, rather than traditional health insurance, to reduce costs. Some companies, such as Whaleback Systems, maintain that they have reduced their health care costs through HSAs and use the savings to make significant contributions to the accounts, but critics "say some employers will absorb the savings just to stay even," the Associated Press reports. Meanwhile, the number of health insurance options available in the state likely will increase next year when Harvard Pilgrim Health Care introduces an HSA and more health insurers reduce their prices to remain competitive, according to insurance brokers (Associated Press, 9/19).
  
  
• Boston Globe: The Boston Globe on Sunday examined whether the recent decrease in the number of employers that offer health insurance to employees is "getting too serious to ignore." According to the Globe, recent studies conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Census Bureau found that fewer U.S. residents receive health insurance through employers and that many receive coverage through public health care programs such as Medicaid. Support for "radical change" exists on "both ends of the political spectrum," although Republicans and Democrats disagree on proposals to address the issue, the Globe reports (Stein, Boston Globe, 9/18).



• Charlotte Observer: The Observer on Tuesday examined how employers nationwide have become more "aggressive in compelling workers to practice healthier lifestyles" to help reduce health care costs. According to Michael Tarwater, CEO of Carolinas HealthCare System, companies should encourage healthy lifestyles among employees and spend more on wellness programs, such as preventive check-ups and surveys, smoking cessation plans, weight-loss plans and disease management plans. Health care experts maintain that such programs can help employees avoid expensive "emergency-level care," which contributes to "soaring medical costs," the Observer reports (Drummond, Charlotte Observer, 9/20).



• New York Times: Twenty-eight percent of the estimated one million freelancers living in New York City were uninsured at some point in the last year, according to a study by the Freelancers Union, the Times reports. According to the study, freelance workers earn on average 25% more than the median income in New York City, making them ineligible for public health assistance (Freeman Gill, New York Times, 9/18).
  
  
• Philadelphia Inquirer: The Inquirer examines how many employers have begun to shift more responsibility for health care and pensions to employees to help address rising costs. According to the Inquirer, employers have begun "trimming back promises" of retiree health coverage, which could "create painful problems" for employees who retiree before age 65. In addition, employers are "beginning to create defined-contribution health plans that protect them from unpredictable inflation in insurance premiums" and that shift "purchasing and managerial responsibilities from professional benefits administrators to individual workers" (Jaffe, Philadelphia Inquirer, 9/18).
  
  
• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: The Post-Gazette on Sunday examined concerns about the ability of health savings accounts and other consumer-driven health plans to reduce health costs. A Kaiser Family Foundation and Health Research and Educational Trust survey released last week found that HSA premiums are lower than premiums for other types of plans, but the average employer contribution is similar. However, employers hope HSAs will reduce costs over time as workers look for the best quality health care for the lowest price (Snowbeck, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 9/18).
  
  
• Raleigh News & Observer: High-deductible health plans have become more common with about 20% of large employers offering such plans in 2005, compared with 5% in 2003, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation-HRET study, the reports. According to the News & Observer, high-deductible plans are becoming more popular as employers look for a quick way to reduce or eliminate premium increases. Many health insurance consulting companies predict that "far more" companies will offer high-deductible health insurance plans in 2006, the News & Observer reports (Fisher [1], Raleigh News & Observer, 9/18).
  
  
• Raleigh News & Observer: The News & Observer also examined open enrollment periods for workers to select employer-sponsored health insurance plans, noting that this year employees likely will "find fewer choices, leaner benefits and premiums that take a larger bite out of your paycheck." Insurance industry analysts predict premium rate increases of 10% or more this year, and the Kaiser Family Foundation-HRET survey found that premiums increased an average of 9.2% during 2005. The News & Observer also lists 10 open-enrollment issues to consider, such as out-of-pocket costs and voluntary benefits like dental and vision coverage (Fisher [2], Raleigh News & Observer, 9/18).
  
  
• Washington Post: The Post examines how two recent surveys that found health insurance costs are "continuing to run well ahead of both wages and general inflation should be a signal to workers to get ready" for higher premiums and more "cost-sharing" for medical services. According to the Post, employers "increasingly are willing to boost the share" of health care costs covered by employees, and workers likely will "pay more and perhaps get less" in the future (Crenshaw, Washington Post, 9/18).