United Benefit Advisors: Employers Have High Confidence
They Can Control Health Care Costs with Proper Tools
Results from the 2008 UBA Employer Opinion Survey
show "that the majority of employers believe in the
long-term value and positive impact that comprehensive
wellness and disease management programs provide," said
William Stafford, Vice President of Member Services for UBA.
"Keeping the healthy employees healthy while stabilizing
and/or improving the health of employees with chronic
conditions will dramatically improve everyone's health and
quality of life."
"This survey
illustrates that employers have a high level of confidence
in their ability to control health care costs and that their
employees can make informed choices if given the additional
tools necessary to do so," Stafford said. "In the current
environment, the absence of readily available price and
quality data coupled with an expectation of both employers
and employees to make sound health care decisions is like
asking someone to navigate turbulent waters while
blindfolded and without the ability to steer."
"Overall, the survey results show that
employers take their role as the primary source for health
care coverage in America quite seriously," Stafford said.
"Employers have made it quite clear that they cannot take
sole responsibility for health care costs; they need to
partner with employees, physicians, hospitals and the
government to find a solution to the health care crisis we
are all experiencing."
United Benefit Advisors: Annual Benchmark
Survey Shows Average Annual Health Plan Cost is $6,881 Per
Employee; Largest Percentage of CDHP Adopters Comes from
Employers with 25-100 Employees
With responses from 16,485 health plans sponsored by 11,723
employers nationwide who employ nearly 1.9 million people
(approximately 4.5 million total lives), the 2007 UBA Health
Plan Survey is the nation's largest and most comprehensive
survey of plan design and plan costs.
"With a growth rate of approximately 20% over last year's
previously unprecedented number of respondents, the report
defines benchmarks for a greater number of specific industries,
regions, and employee size categories than have been available
previously," says Bill Stafford, UBA's Vice President, Member
Services. "The results will be especially valuable to employers
in evaluating the effectiveness of their current plans and to
knowledgeably make future adjustments while keeping their
benefits both competitive and cost-effective."
