Survey: Health savings accounts gaining ground

THE PUEBLO CHIEFTAIN, May 5, 2006

DENVER - Momentum is building for consumer-directed health plans as an option in employee benefit packages, according to a 2006 survey by Mountain States Employers Council.

The survey, released Thursday, also indicated that while health-care costs continue to increase at double-digit rates, the cost of consumer-directed health plants are significantly lower to both employers and employees.

Consumer-directed plans include health savings accounts.

“This appears to indicate that both employers and employees see CDHPs as a win-win,” said Michael G. Severns, president and CEO of Mountain States Employers Council.

“Monthly costs of a health savings account, for example, are lower for both parties, which may help explain the increasing interest in HSAs and other consumer-directed plans.”

The survey found that 8 percent of respondents in Colorado and Wyoming now using health savings account and 7 percent offering a Health Reimbursement Arrangement, up from 5 percent and 4 percent, respectively, the council said.

About 1 in 5 businesses (21 percent) are considering adding health savings accounts, the council said.

The council’s survey also indicated that health-insurance costs rose an average of 11 percent in 2006, identical to the 11-percent increase reported in the 2005 survey.

The survey of 608 employers across Colorado and Wyoming reported that in 2006, Colorado employers, on average, pay 84 percent of costs for employee-only coverage, 68 percent of costs for employee/spouse coverage and 66 percent of costs for family coverage.

Mountain States Employers Council has conducted the Health and Welfare Plans survey since 1947, expanding it in 1975 to provide employers with more comprehensive data on health-care costs and retirement/investment options.