Health insurers offering new, different ways to rein in plan costs - Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal:

gonyzyf.wordpress.com
According to the Washington, D.C.-based Henry J. Kaiser Familyu Foundation, in 2008 premiums for employer-based health insuranc e rose by 5 percent and firms with fewer than 24 employees saw an averags increaseof 6.8 percent. In responss to a market simultaneously calling for lower costs with a high level of service, Eagan-based introduced SureBlue, a healtb care plan that builds a three-yea r rate guarantee into the product while transitioning employees to a consumer-directedd model featuring health savings accounta (HSAs) or health reimbursement accounts (HRAs). The firsft plan of its kind offered by a Minnesota healtbcare plan, SureBlue is designed for businessees with 51 to 249 employees.
Clients sign on for thre years and receive an initial rate set througyh the traditionalunderwriting process. In the secon d and third years, rate increases will be 6 percenfper year. This allows businesses to plan ahead financially whil protecting against any unexpected jumps in healthcare costs. “In challenging economi times, we believe the cost guarantee SureBlu offers is exactly what Minnesota employers are looking for to help them managetheie businesses,” said Richard Neuner, senior vice president and chietf marketing officer at Blue Cross and Blue Shiel d of Minnesota.
The plan, announcexd in September, took effect in January 2009 and is available to fullyinsured “We’re in the educational phase of the product said Angie Bishop, sales executivse at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nationally, and offer similad plans, but Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesot is the first local health insurer to offet a three-year plan. Daryl Richard, vice president of public relationswfor , a divisiobn of Minnetonka-based , said his organization has no planse to launch a similar product soon.
“We have several similatr programs inthe small-business area that encourage HRA and HSA Our Edge program is for companies with two to 99 employeews and ties the plan design to designatedc doctors and hospitals for lower co-payments and co-insurance,” he “We’ve taken other ways to address the same root to cap health care costs.” UnitedHealthcare startex offering the Edge plan in Septembee 2007. Another Minnesota insurer also is finding different ways of tryinv to rein in the cost of healtyhcare insurance.
“Medica offers a comprehensive and divers e product portfolio that allows employersz to combine plan designs and network solutionsd to achievetheir cost-containment goals,” said Greg spokesman for Minnetonka-based Medica, in an e-mailed statement. “We believe this flexibility allows our customerxs to purchase health coverage that fits theirt needs without locking theminto long-term commitmenta with significant penalties for making changes not prescribed by the healtn plan.” While employers may be eager to shiftt more of the cost of health care to their employeees through HRA and HSA plans, there are potential drawbackd for the insured.
Jack Militello, a professor of managemengt and director of the health care MBA program atthe , said effortss that direct consumers to high-deductible plans and cap costsz can save employers a grear deal of money, but sometimesd at the expense of employee “Health care is an expensive proposition for a lot of us. Younged people tend to like the idea of fixed cost and thinka tax-free HSA is a good deal because you can managde your own costs. But I’m 63 and I don’t want an HSA; I want full Militello said employer cost controls are most likely toaffect lower-income employees who may feel they don’ have the money to spenc on a procedure or prescribed drug.
This, he can lead to self-diagnosis and which can cost an employe r in the form of ill workers andlost productivity. “Small business has really been beaten by this and healthy care costs are only going to go Militello said. “The work force is aginhg and catastrophic eventsraise premiums. It’sa in an employer’s best interest for employees to be healthyh and insurers have programs to keep upon people’s Militello believes longer-term programes that control costs and promote consumer-directedr health care plans (CDHP), like will be even more prevalent in years to Bishop agreed. “Predictability is centra for employersand employees.
”