UBA Finds Rising Health Account Enrollment

Preferred provider organization plans continue to dominate the U.S. group health market, but health account plans may be gaining.

When United Benefit Advisors L.L.C., Indianapolis, a coalition of benefits advisory firms, conducted a survey of member firms’ client employers, it found that 54% of employer-sponsored group health plans are PPO plans, and that those plans cover 63% of the employees enrolled in employer-sponsored plans.

Health maintenance organization plans continue to account for 21% of the participating employers’ plans, but they enroll only 13% of the employees in the employers’ plans, UBA says.

The percentage of participating employers that offer plans incorporating health savings accounts or health reimbursement arrangements has increased to 13%, and the percentage of group health plan members enrolled in the health account plans has increased to 11%, from 6%, since 2007, UBA says.