A survey of large employers found they are anticipating an 8.9 percent increase in the cost of health insurance next year, up from an average 7 percent this year.
As a result, employers said they are planning to make changes to their 2011 healthcare benefit programs.
The survey, conducted by the National Business Group on Health, a non-profit association of large employers, found that 53 percent are planning to make changes to their benefit plans despite the uncertainty that exists around complying with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Another 19 percent are scaling back changes they planned to make, while an equal number are making no changes. The remaining respondents were undecided pending further review of the final regulations, the survey found.
Among the employers who will be making specific changes to their health benefit plans to comply with the new law, 70 percent said they will remove lifetime dollar limits on overall benefits, while 37 percent reported they will make changes to annual or lifetime limits on specific benefits.
The survey found 26 percent of employers will remove annual dollar limits on overall benefits, while 13 percent will remove pre-existing condition exclusions for children.
The survey, based on responses from 72 of the nation's largest corporations representing more than 3.7 million employees, was conducted in May and June.
"While the health reform law has forced employers to evaluate their healthcare benefit strategies and decide whether to comply with the law or lose grandfathered status, they haven't lost sight of the fact that controlling rising costs remains one of, if not their highest, priority. They have to foot the bill, not the government," said Helen Darling, president of the National Business Group on Health. "In fact, with cost increases expected to accelerate next year, many of the plan design changes employers are making are being done to help curb those increases, as they have to do every year."
According to the survey, employers are planning to use a wider variety of cost-sharing strategies to help control the costs of health insurance next year. The survey found 63 percent plan to increase the percentage that employees contribute to the premium, up from 57 percent who did so this year, while 46 percent plan to raise out-of-pocket maximums next year, compared with 36 percent this year.