June 1, 2003
By: Tracey Walker
Managed Healthcare Executive
Let consumer in on benefit design process
Flint, Mich. - Employers are beyond concerned about rising health benefit
costs and are willing to try anything to contain costs, according to
benefits experts. Health plans are stepping up with the development of new
benefit plan products and designs.
"Employer confidence levels in health plans' abilities to manage healthcare
costs show a rate of less than 20% being very confident in their ability to
do so," says Henry Loubet, senior vice president, Keenan and Associates, a
full-service employee benefits consulting firm in Torrance, Calif. "It is
incumbent for managed care executives to rein in the double-digit premium
increases, which are five to 10 times the overall rate of inflation in this
economy."
Paul Fronstin, PhD, director, health research and education program at the
Employee Benefit Research Institute in Washington, D.C., shares a similar
viewpoint. "Employers and employees are concerned about the rules of managed
care and how it has affected choice and access to care," Fronstin says.
Plan possibilities. Plan innovations such as consumer directed/defined
contribution; tiered and narrow provider networks; pay-for-performance
initiatives; self-funding and managed PPO products are gaining favor in the
marketplace, they say.
"It is key to include and educate the consumer in the [benefit plan]
development process, so that he or she understands the options and the
impact of their actions in accessing the healthcare delivery system," Loubet
says.
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