Comparative 8/25

MedicareEnroll8/26

MedHome 10/28

The survey findings are, of course, highly relevant to health care and health benefit professionals in today’s tough economic environment. Highlights include the following:

• Average health care costs will increase 6% in 2009 to an average total per employee cost of $9,552. While the rate of growth is holding steady with prior year increases, companies and their employees still face record-high costs in 2009.
• Costs of this magnitude --- and continuing increases above core economic inflation --- are clearly problematic in a steep recessionary environment. But even in these tough economic times, companies with high-performing health programs are capturing a health dividend in the form of both increased efficiency and improved workforce performance.

For the fourth consecutive year, the survey analysis includes insights into the strategies and tactics leading companies use to keep health care costs down and program value up. For example, high-performing companies will pay, on average, 12% less ($1,200 per employee) than low-performing companies in 2009 --- a cost differential that quickly adds up to millions of dollars in annual savings for both employers and employees. The survey results also suggest that the health dividend high-performing companies achieve includes other positive workforce management outcomes beyond cost savings, such as higher employee engagement.
       

How high-performing companies gain a health dividend by:

• Building the link between workforce health and business results
• Engaging employees, promoting a culture of health and proactively managing change
• Investing in a broad range of existing and emerging health management programs and approaches
• Designing and pricing programs to create transparency and appropriate incentives
• Rigorously measuring program and vendor performance against goals

• Senior Executives
• Human Resource Professionals
• Health Plan Executives
• Health Care Provider Organizations
• Self-Insured Employers
• Third Party Administrators (TPAs)

Mark Olson, FSA, MAAA
Principal, Towers Perrin

Mark Olson is a Principal and consulting actuary in the Towers Perrin Health & Welfare practice in the firm’s Boston (www.towersperrin.com) office and has been with Towers Perrin for 20 years.

He has extensive experience with major employers - developing strategic health and welfare benefit plan objectives; building financial analysis, pricing and contribution strategies for health and welfare plans; establishing metrics and criteria for managing health care networks; performing post-retirement and post-employment welfare benefit valuations; and developing and monitoring administrative performance guarantees.

Prior to joining Towers Perrin, Mark was employed by a major insurance company, where he was responsible for managed care pricing for national accounts in the Midwestern and Western regions of the U.S.

Mark is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries, a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries, and a Fellow of the Conference of Consulting Actuaries.

Mark earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics from Southern Illinois University and a Master of Actuarial Science degree from the College of Business Administration at Georgia State University.
   

Daniel S. Pribe, FSA, MAAA
Senior Consultant, Towers Perrin

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