Dan Cook: 10 Employer Health Plan Trends For 2016

1. Rising Deductibles - Regardless of plan type, employers are continuing to increase individual and family member deductibles
2. Further Cost Shifting - In addition to increasing deductibles generally, employers are offering more high-deductible plans to members that ask them to take on other costs
3. Out-of- Pocket Max - One area that didn’t change much in 2016 was out-of-pocket costs
4. Plan Surcharges - One in five plans include a tobacco surcharge, and a quarter said they will add a tobacco surcharge
5. Outpatient Surgery - Outpatient copays fell an average of 25 percent, while inpatient rose 68 percent
6. Emergency Room Copays - Employers are raising copays by an average of 22 percent
7. Prescription Drug Copays - Employers, like everyone else, are struggling to find the sweet spot with specialty pharmaceutical cost control
8. Maternity Cost Control - Employers are teasing out the maternity costs they don’t have to automatically fully cover under terms of the Patient Protection and ACA
9. Telemedicine - Employers aren’t yet sure what virtual care’s potential for cost control is, but they’re going to find out
10. Wellness Incentives - As employers gather more experience with wellness plans, they’re finding which incentives work, and which ones don’t

Source: BenefitsPro
Source URL: http://www.benefitspro.com/2016/03/01/10-employer-health-pla...