Benefits

The majority of respondents to a survey cited other approaches for converting passive patients into active health care consumers.

Respondents to an AHIP study indicated their employers and insurance providers working together to improve health and lower costs improves their favorability of both.

The initiative could ultimately benefit all Americans, Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase says.

An analysis also finds Millennials were especially eager to adopt health savings accounts (HSAs), nearly doubling their HSA participation from 2017.

Rising health care costs and the advent of digital tools has made health care options more accessible and pushed the benefits industry toward a consumer-centric and retail-like model, to both the benefit and detriment of employees.

The National Business Group on Health sees more traction in value purchasing, increasing employee consumerism and increasing employee engagement in resources offered to them.

Even among employees who invest their HSA assets, only 17.7% indicate they will save and grow their assets for future health care needs in retirement.

Managing specialty costs and protecting themselves from high-cost claims are two action items suggested by Tracy Watts, with Mercer.

Only 36% have budgeted to make monthly contributions to their health care savings, and 32% have savings goals to cover long-term health care costs.

Among large employers, those Gallagher identifies as best-in-class use proactive planning to spend less, while best-in-class mid-size employers rein in costs without shifting the burden to employees.

Researchers say more can be done to encourage consumer behaviors and make them more helpful for participants in high-deductible health plans.

A survey also found employees have fears about potential changes to health care policy coming out of Washington.

Any large-scale action on retirement reform will require trust, a willingness to take risk and experiment, and a sense of the greater good.

Cost-shifting to employees is less utilized.

Providers, namely hospitals and large regional health care systems, are increasingly being asked by payers to accept at-risk reimbursement, where payment is heavily influenced by the quality and outcome of patient care.

Mercer notes that employers were able to contain these costs without enrolling more employees into high-deductible plans.

HealthMine says its findings are relevant to the increased use of account-based health plans, which include health savings accounts (HSAs) and health reimbursement accounts (HRAs), and increase plan participant responsibility for cost management.

A report from the NIRS argues how DB plans create more savings and retirement income for teachers than DC plans.

But, self-funding health insurance is becoming more popular as a way to cut costs, United Benefit Advisors finds.