Companies are allowing their employees to make more decisions on their benefits, according to a Prudential Group Insurance survey released in August.
While this trend is not a surprise, what is surprising is how few companies are educating their employees on how to make those decisions.
Only 28 percent of the survey's participants, which include employers, employees, insurance brokers and consultants, are providing employee education, compared to 34 percent of survey participants in 2007.
Health insurance analyst Alan Katz of the Los Angeles-based Alan Katz Group, which focuses on the small group market, said employers across the board have been shifting rising healthcare costs to employees. Small business owners have been doing this for some time, he pointed out.
"What's unfortunate is the lack of providing employees with the tools they need to better manage their healthcare and healthcare spending," he said.
Katz points to two determining factors.
"First, shifting the costs to keep the doors open is the initial impetus for shifting costs to employees," he said. A lag occurs between the introduction of a new program and the employer's realization that he/she/they need to help employees handle these new responsibilities.
"So one should expect to see a lag between the number of businesses shifting costs and the number providing educational programs," Katz said. "Over time, this gap should narrow, however."
The small group market lacks the wellness programs and education tools and the staff to research them that larger employers can access, Katz said. In addition, he said, putting dollars into anything related to benefits is not a current priority.