Increased health care costs concerns 99.4% of employers

Results of the 2010 UBA Employer Opinion Survey indicate that nearly all (99.4 percent) top decision makers are concerned with the impact of health care costs are having or are going to have on their overall corporate costs, according to newly released data.

More than 50 percent said it is a critical concern. Just slightly fewer (97.9 percent) are also concerned with the impact health care costs are having on their employees, up nearly 20 percent from two years ago. These results were consistent regardless of industry, employee size category or geographic region. Additional findings presented in the survey include:

• Employers in general feel better prepared to communicate and implement complex strategies to deal with health benefits.
• Employers are less prepared to meet the legislative and regulatory requirements placed upon them, and those requirements are becoming increasingly complex.
• Less than one in six employers feel the government should develop a universal health care system paid with tax dollars.

“On an encouraging note, there is a trend of employers implementing wellness and health management strategies that they feel are having a positive impact on chronic conditions and the effectiveness of these programs in general,” according to William Stafford, Vice President, Member Services at UBA’s corporate headquarters in Indianapolis.

In addition to Health Care Strategy, Benefits Philosophy and Opinion, Health Plan Management, and Consumer Driven Health Plan strategies, the UBA 2010 Employer Opinion Survey produced a Special Supplement on Health Care Reform in America, released just days before the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as amended. www.UBAbenefits.com.