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United Benefit Advisors (UBA) Announces Results of the Largest National Health Plan Benchmark Survey Ever Conducted

 
- West Point, Georgia-- United Benefit Advisors (UBA), an alliance of the nation's premier independent benefit advisory firms, today released the results of its first annual employer-sponsored health plan benchmark survey. With responses from 12,176 health plans sponsored by more than 8,700 employers nationwide, the 2005 UBA/Ingenix Health Plan Survey is by far the largest and most comprehensive survey of plan design and plan costs ever conducted.

“The unprecedented number of respondents allows the report to define benchmarks for a greater number of specific industries, regions, and employee size categories than have ever been available previously”, said David LoCascio, UBA’s Co-Founder. “The results will be of tremendous value in helping employers evaluate the effectiveness of their current plans and to knowledgably make future adjustments to keep their benefits both competitive and cost-effective.”

The survey report provides vital benchmark statistics on hundreds of health plan factors, including detailed enrollment, plan design, plan cost, employee premium cost-sharing, prescription drug, retiree plan, and flexible spending account norms.

Among the survey’s numerous findings:

*Average premiums increased 9.6% for all plans (after any plan adjustments), but only 3.4% for Consumer Driven Plans.

*Average premiums have increased to $327 for single coverage, with employees contributing an average of $53 of the cost. Average premiums for the highest premium tier (full family coverage) average $927, with employees contributing $381 on average.

*Employers expect a continual slow decline in the double-digit cost increases of the past six years, but anticipate average cost increases of 12.2% next year (before any plan changes), reflecting little confidence that a substantive solution to rising costs has been found.

*Only 2.6% of employers currently offer Consumer Driven Plans (high deductible plans with an HRA or HSA), with 1.9% of all employees enrolled in the plans, although a significantly larger percentage of employers are considering adding such a plan next year.

*Employee choice continues to proliferate. Over one-third of all employers now offer their employees two or more plans from which to choose. In addition, 63.9% of employees are enrolled in PPO plans, which provide benefits for services received from non-network providers, while only 20.1% of employees are enrolled in HMO or EPO plans, which typically provide no such non-network benefits.

"With employer health plan information reported for over 2,600 cities from virtually every state in the country, differences in plan design and plan costs between various regions and industry groups become apparent”, said J. Smith Lanier & Co., Vice President, Philip Saussy. “This unique level of additional information provides important factors in determining not just what is happening with health plan costs, but why it’s happening.”


Other important findings include:

*PPO plans represent a significantly higher percentage of all plans in the Southeast as compared to the National average. PPO plans represent 76.2% of all plans in the Southeast while only 59.4% of plans nationally. HMOs represent 7.5% of the plans in the Southeast however; HMOs have a 23.9% market share in the National market.

*Employee contributions are 15% higher in the Southeast as compared to National figures. Employees pay $46 per month in the Southeast on average while the National average is $40. Employee contributions for family coverage are 9% higher at $394 per month versus $360 for the National average.

*For Consumer Driven Healthcare Plans, the average annual HRA/HAS funding level is $643 for Single coverage and $955 for Full Family coverage.

*Only 2.6% of all plans in the Southeast have a deductible for their prescription drugs as compared to the National average of 7.8%. For those plans with a deductible, the median prescription deductible is $100 for single coverage and $150 for family coverage.

*The median premium for single coverage for all plans is $292 in the Southeast as compared to $327 nationally. For Consumer Driven Healthcare plans, the median premium for single coverage is $218 in the Southeast as compared to $253 nationally.


“The focus of the survey was to provide not only large employers with effective plan benchmarks, but to also provide the 99.3% of employer plan sponsors who have fewer than 1,000 employees with data that is critical in managing their programs effectively”, said Mr. LoCascio. “Also, with the rapidly increasing number of employers having operations in more than one location, a genuinely national survey of this previously unavailable size and scope is the most effective way to deliver that information.”

Copies of the survey are available for purchase via UBA’s website at www.benefits.com . A companion report, the 2005 UBA/Ingenix Employer Opinion Survey, which delineates employers’ specific health care strategies, cost-containment efforts, opinions, and future expectations regarding their health plans, will be available in mid-September.




About United Benefit Advisors (UBA)
UBA, (http://benefits.com), is one of the nation's largest employee benefits advisory organizations with over 1,600 experienced benefits professionals located in more than 150 offices across North America. As an alliance of the nation's premier independent benefit advisory firms, UBA members are better positioned to help employers and employees respond more efficiently and effectively to the challenges of an ever-changing employee benefits marketplace.

About J. Smith Lanier & Co.
J. Smith Lanier & Co., headquartered in West Point, Georgia, is an employee-owned company that was founded before the turn-of-the-century and has become one of the largest privately owned insurance brokers in the United States. Since 1868, the company has grown from a three-employee local agency to a major regional firm employing over 435 employees in eight divisions and 18 branch offices. J. Smith Lanier & Co. offers commercial and personal lines insurance, employee benefits, third party plan administration (TPA), surety, risk control and personal lines.
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