2009 Employee Survey Highlights

Average health care costs will increase 6% in 2009, according to the Towers Perrin 2009 Health Care Cost Survey. While the rate of growth is holding steady with prior-year increases, companies and their employees still face record-high costs in 2009. In flat dollar terms, gross health care expenditure will rise by an average of $532 per employee, to an average total cost of $9,552.

The survey findings are based on prospective increases in premium rates or, in the case of self-insured plans, increases in premium equivalents for 2009 plans offered by over 600 of the nation’s largest employers. This year’s respondent group — covering approximately 13 million employees, retirees and dependents, and representing over $65 billion in annual health care spend — is by far the largest in the survey’s 20-year history and, as such, stands as a powerful indicator of emerging trends and changing practices in the health care marketplace.

HIGH PERFORMERS DEMONSTRATE THE ART OF THE POSSIBLE

The most significant findings in the 2009 survey are the cost variations between high-performing and low-performing companies.* On average, high performing companies will pay 12% less ($1,200 per employee) than low performing companies in 2009 — a savings differential that quickly adds up to millions of dollars in annual savings for both employers and employees.

The survey results also suggest that the health dividend high-performing companies achieve is linked to other workforce management outcomes beyond cost savings, such as higher employee engagement.

To achieve these important advantages, high performers focus on the connections between workforce health and business results, promote a culture of health supported by consumer engagement strategies, and invest in a broad array of both proven and emerging health management techniques — with disciplined execution and measurement processes as the platform for ongoing program management.

COST INCREASES DEEPEN AFFORDABILITY CONCERNS

While some companies are successfully reining in costs without compromising their workforce management objectives, ongoing cost increases continue to weigh heavily on many organizations and their employees. Over the past five years alone, employers’ total health care costs have increased by 29% and employees’ by 40%. These growing burdens are becoming increasingly

Image white papers: 

towers_perrin.jpg

Document: 

TP_2009 HealthCost Survey.pdf