WARWICK – Consumer-driven health plans grew at a 13.9 percent rate, down from a 22.9 percent growth rate in 2010, according the preliminary results released from the annual Health Plan Survey conducted by United Benefit Advisors.
The survey is the nation’s largest health plan benchmarking study, with 16,421 plans from 10,744 employers participating.
Among the surveys preliminary findings for 2011 were that consumer-driven health plans cover more employees (17.3 percent) than health maintenance organization plans (11.9 percent). Also, the Northeast region of the country had the largest concentration of consumer-driven health plans (31.3 percent), followed by the Southeast region (27.4 percent). In addition, the average cost increase for consumer-driven health plans was 8.0 percent, slightly lower than that of the average of all plan types, which increased 8.2 percent this year.
Other findings include:
“For the first time in more than seven years of reporting, consumer-driven health plans nationally did not create a savings over the clients’ in-force plan prior to renewal,” said Robert Calise, principal of Cornerstone Group, which is the only United Benefit Advisors member firm in Rhode Island. “As these plans become more prevalent, the percentage of savings has continually declined.”
The 2011 UBA Health Plan Survey will be available to the public on Nov. 1.
