Health Insurance Daily

Employers Weigh Costs, Benefits Of Traditional Vs. High-Deductible Health Plans

Traditionally, employers have striven to offer the richest possible health benefit plans, a trifecta of high coverage levels, low employee premiums and low out-of-pocket expenses.

After several years of double-digit premium increases, however, most employers have become accustomed to cost-shifting through incrementally higher employee premiums, deductibles and co-pays.

But in the past two years, high-deductible plans have burst onto the scene, giving employers the option of lowering monthly premiums by offering a high-deductible plan that requires employees to manage health care spending.

At the same time, the plans transfer a great deal of financial risk and responsibility to employees, an option that would have been unthinkable for most employees even a few years ago.

No longer unthinkable, consumer-directed plans are the hottest thing in health care. Since their introduction in 2002, high-deductible plans have penetrated the market at twice the rate of HMOs when they came on in the 1980s.

To read more on how to decide what is right for your company, click on Business Journal.

posted by Mike @ 8:10 AM