Close Close
ThinkAdvisor

Life Health > Health Insurance

UBA Finds Rising Health Account Enrollment

X
Your article was successfully shared with the contacts you provided.

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.

The average premium for all of the participants’ health plans has increased 7.4%, while the average first-year premium for the health account plans fell by 7.9%, UBA says.

The average employer HRA contribution was $1,209 for a single employee and $2,274 for a family.

The average employer HSA contribution was $642 for a single employee and $1,053 for a family.

The average annual medical plan cost is $7,327 per employee, with employers paying $4,117 of the total and employees paying $3,210.