Benefits Surveys: Wellness, Retiree Health

In the United States, participating employers are spending an average of $163 per employee per year on wellness incentive rewards, up from an average of $100 2 years ago.

Only a minority of participants have measured the financial effects of wellness programs, but 43% of the U.S. employers that have tried to measure the effects on the health care cost trend rate say the programs have reduced the trend rate.

The typical reduction reported was about 2 percentage points to 5 percentage points per year.

Another survey report, released by the Stamford, Conn., office of Towers Perrin Forster & Crosby Inc., suggests that the cost of post-retirement health costs at large employers that still offer post-retirement health benefits will increase 6% in 2010 for retirees younger than 65 and 4% for retirees older than 65.

But many large employers have dropped retiree health benefits, and only 45% of the surveyed employers that still offer retiree health benefits still subsidize the benefits, Towers Perrin says.

“In addition, many employers have put caps on their premium subsidies and, since plan costs are now well in excess of those caps, many retirees now bear the full brunt of cost inflation,” Towers Perrin says.

Only 22% of the survey participants say their companies offer retiree health benefits subsidies for employees coming in today as new hires. Another 23% offer new hires access to a company-sponsored health plan but expect the participants to pay the full cost of the coverage.