29 Oct UBA Health Plan Survey Cites Key Trends

The Nation’s Largest Health Plan Benchmarking Survey Cites Key Trends

In spite of passage of health care reform efforts, health care costs will continue to increase for both plan sponsors and their employees. Preliminary results of the United Benefit Advisors (UBA) 2012 Health Plan Survey, the nation’s largest health plan survey with 17,905 plans from 11,711 employers — and the only one of its kind to offer local benefits benchmarking capabilities — show some startling trends in employer health plans.

One trend that stands out in this year’s survey shows that consumer-driven health plans (CDHPs) in the U.S. experienced a decline in the percentage of plans offered for the first time since 2007. CDHP growth stagnation is a critical trend that businesses should consider when making health plan purchasing decisions. Though CDHPs are popular in some regions of the country (particularly the Northeast), the 2012 Health Plan Survey’s closer look at why some areas have a high occurrence of CDHPs, along with surprising findings on the lack of savings with CDHPs, arms smart employers with key data that might lead them to reconsider offering them.