Employer Group Health Plans

The average annual premium for employer-sponsored health insurance this year increased by 7% for single coverage and family coverage, reaching $8,435 and $23,968, respectively, according to the KFF Employer Health Benefits Survey. The report, released on Oct. 18, noted that workers’ wages increased by 5.2% and inflation rose by 5.8% in 2023. The average annual increase last year was 2% for single coverage and 1% for family coverage. KFF’s survey, now in its 25th year, includes private and non-federal public employers with three or more workers.

Customer satisfaction with health insurance increased to a record-high score, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ASCI) Insurance and Health Care Study published on Oct. 17. Humana Inc. had the highest score (82 out of 100), followed by UnitedHealthcare (78) and CVS Health Corp.-owned Aetna (77). ASCI’s report was based on interviews with 12,849 customers between October 2022 and September 2023 on subjects such as the range of plans available, ease of submitting a claim and access to doctors and hospitals. ASCI was founded in 1994 by researchers at the University of Michigan as well as the American Society for Quality in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and CFI Group in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Insurer and plan sponsor trade groups strongly oppose the Biden administration’s stepped-up mental health parity regulations, according to statements and public comment letters submitted in response to the latest rulemaking on the subject. Insurer groups AHIP, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) and the Alliance of Community Health Plans (ACHP) all lined up against the rulemaking, as did the ERISA Industry Committee (ERIC), a plan sponsor group.

According to the insurer and plan sponsor groups, the proposed rules, which were released in July, are unworkable. They argue that there are simply not enough providers available to meet the more stringent requirements set out in the proposed regulations. The current round of rules, if implemented, would expand the list of conditions covered by parity rules, require additional data reporting and establish stronger network adequacy standards. Both plan sponsors and carriers could be held liable for violations of most provisions in the Biden administration’s proposed regulations.

In a recent report, the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA), the trade group representing the largest PBMs, claimed that employers often choose spread pricing when they set up their PBM contracts. But employer plan sponsor groups, which have pushed for years for a federal ban on spread pricing, tell AIS Health that the way PCMA describes employers’ pharmacy benefit options is misleading — instead, the plan sponsor groups say, PBMs manipulate employers into spread pricing arrangements.

PBMs are under intense scrutiny in Congress: Legislators from both parties seem likely to pass more aggressive regulation of the industry this year. A ban on spread pricing is one of the key policies under consideration. Spread pricing is the business practice in which PBMs pay pharmacies dispensing a drug less than what they charge payers, with the PBM pocketing the difference. This can result in substantial revenue for the PBM, as the “spread” for the same pharmaceutical product can vary widely from pharmacy to pharmacy.

Prominent insurance brokers are expecting large percentage increases in employer-plan costs next year, brought on by factors like rising labor costs and higher health care utilization. But there isn’t likely to be any relief in coming years, and experts say plan sponsors will have to be creative and disruptive if they hope to cushion the blow of increasing expenses.

Brokers Mercer Inc., Aon PLC and WTW PLC project that average employer plan costs will increase between 5.4% and 8.5% in plan year 2024.

And while employers don’t have to pass that onto employees in the form of higher monthly plan rates, some industry experts expect rising premiums are on the horizon, too.

Idaho is the first state to complete its Medicaid eligibility redeterminations process, the state’s Medicaid agency announced on Sept. 8. The state “processed 153,196 renewals, and 31,900 were determined eligible, and 121,296 were ineligible,” according to a post from the state’s Dept. of Health and Welfare (DEW). DEW added that the resumption of redeterminations is “a large and important undertaking that DEW has taken very seriously.” To handle redeterminations, “we committed more than 300 eligibility staff to the effort and an additional 42 staff from our call center.” The news is somewhat surprising, as Idaho paused redeterminations earlier this year due to what KFF termed “technical difficulties.” CMS has warned state Medicaid agencies not to disenroll Medicaid members too quickly.

Self-insured plans pay higher prices for many health care services compared with fully insured plans, according to an analysis of claims data published in this month’s issue of Health Affairs. Aditi P. Sen, Ph.D., the study’s lead author, says the findings “suggest that employers are generally not able to negotiate prices on behalf of their employees, and I don’t think that should be surprising. It really reflects the dynamics in health care markets.”

In self-insured plans, employers assume financial responsibility for their workers’ health care claims rather than having a health insurer take on that risk — theoretically giving such companies more incentive to drive costs down.

Annual health care costs for a hypothetical American family of four covered by an employer-sponsored preferred provider plan (PPO) are estimated to reach $31,065 in 2023, an increase of 5.6% year over year, according to the 2023 Milliman Medical Index (MMI).

On average, annual health care costs per person covered by a PPO plan will grow from $6,472 in 2021 to $7,221 in 2023, the actuarial and consulting firm predicted. Approximately 36% of those total expenses are attributed to inpatient and outpatient hospital services, while professional services alone will account for 30% of total spending in 2023.

The Biden administration on Aug. 29 released its long-awaited list of the first 10 drugs that will be subject to price negotiation in the Medicare program, representing the first major step toward implementing the most ambitious drug-pricing reform in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

While the new price-negotiation program will apply only to Medicare — not employer-based or individual market plans — industry experts say it will almost certainly affect the commercial insurance market indirectly. But they tell AIS Health, a division of MMIT, that exactly what the impact will look like hasn’t fully come into focus.

When asked about the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on their employees’ health and well-being, a whopping 77% of employers surveyed by the Business Group on Health said they are currently seeing increased mental health issues in their workforce. And based on other findings in the employer coalition’s annual survey, companies are counting on their health plan partners to help them address this growing issue.

According to Business Group on Health Vice President Brenna Shebel, “77% is a stark jump over last year,” when 44% of employers said they were seeing an uptick in conditions such as substance use disorders, depression and anxiety. This year, another 16% of employers said they anticipate seeing an increase in mental health issues in their workforces in the future, “so certainly a key finding here is the dire need for mental health services and supporting their employees as they’re navigating their myriad needs in the area of mental health,” Shebel added during an Aug. 22 virtual press event held to present Business Group on Health’s findings.

With many new, expensive treatments entering the U.S. market, plan sponsors are facing more challenges when designing their drug benefits packages, according to Pharmaceutical Strategies Group’s 2023 “Trends in Drug Benefit Design Report,” sponsored by Rx Savings Solutions. The report is based on surveys of 180 individuals representing employers, health plans and union/Taft Hartley plans.

In 2023, almost all employers and health plans offered a preferred provider organization (PPO) plan and most offered a high-deductible health plan (HDHP) with a health savings account (HSA). Yet only 43% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that HDHPs effectively manage overall drug trend. The percentage showed a modest increase compared to 35% in 2022.