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Feeling the Squeeze
CBIA survey: Employers struggle to retain health benefits for workers
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Business New Haven
2/4/2002
By: BNH
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Faced with the prospect of double-digit increases in health care benefit costs, Connecticut employers are having an increasingly difficult time retaining health benefits for employees, according to a recent Connecticut employer survey by the Connecticut Business & Industry Association (CBIA).
The silver lining is that only two percent of responding employers said the increasing costs would force them to discontinue offering health care benefits. The bad news is that, in the current recession, employers expect employees pay a greater share of the freight.
The survey, of companies with 50 or more workers, was conducted by the Center for Survey Research & Analysis at the University of Connecticut and paid for by CBIA. The state's largest industry group says it is the first Connecticut-specific, comprehensive survey of employers' health benefit costs, including those that are both self-insured and fully-insured.
“The figures we've seen from this survey confirm that Connecticut employers are facing the same health care cost crisis as the rest of the nation,” says Kenneth O. Decko, CBIA's president and CEO. “Despite the double-digit increases faced by employers, an overwhelming number said they would continue to offer health benefit coverage - but they're also expecting to pass some of the costs along to employees.”
The survey found that employers, on average, saw a 15-percent cost increase in 2001 and anticipated a 13-percent hike for 2002. A majority (51 percent) reported they would absorb some or all of the health benefit cost increases. However, 70 percent say they might have to ask employees to pay a greater share of premium or plan costs, while 67 percent say they may have to increase employee co-pays and deductibles.
With the 2002 session of the General Assembly rapidly approaching, CBIA is urging legislators to heed the warnings these survey figures present. “We are approaching a health care cost crisis at a time when our economy is struggling,” Decko says. “First, we must avoid adopting new mandates or regulations that increase costs for consumers. Then, we must work together to find ways to begin to moderate costs.”
The survey was conducted in December among 405 companies employing some 120,000 workers. Complete details are available at www.cbia.com.
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