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The Business of
Health Care Report Fortune 500 companies have long served as influential models for other purchasers of health care. A recent survey reveals trends toward outsourcing components of their health benefit administration to others, adopting a regional purchasing strategy to select the lowest-cost provider, and hiring outside consultants to select carriers. Looking ahead, employers face three major challenges: a continued escalation in overall health care costs, increases in prescription drug costs and usage, problems with service, and physician and hospital access caused by health plan consolidation. As one cost saving method, companies are eliminating or reducing the more liberal indemnity coverage. In 1999, indemnity enrollments of Fortune 500 companies represented 20 percent or less in the majority of firms, and the number of companies with no indemnity coverage doubled. At the same time, firms have dropped the percentage of contribution to employee health premiums. Between 1994 and 1999, employer contributions largely ranged from 60 percent to 100 percent of premiums. But there was a 13 percent drop in companies paying more than 90 percent. Fortune 500 companies also achieved lower premium increases by adding new benefits designed to reduce costs and please employees. Included are more consumer-friendly forms of managed care, such as direct access to specialists without referral from a primary care physician. Also being added are access to non-traditional vendors like acupuncturists and chiropractors -- and new concepts for disease management and health promotion like smoking cessation and weight loss incentives. If you have comments on health care or suggestions for topics to be addressed on this program, e-mail me at DougHawthorne@TexasHealth.org. Stay tuned to our weekly Business of Health Care reports here on TexasHealth.org and on News Radio 1080 KRLD. Sources: "Corporate Health Care Purchasing Among The Fortune 500," National Health Care Purchasing Institute, an initiative of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, May 2001 ©
2001 Texas Health Resources |
