|
Employers Continue Searching for Ways to Contain Dental
Insurance Costs
Slightly
more than half (54%) of Americans received some form of dental
insurance coverage in 2002, according to a recent report from
the National Association of Dental Plans (NADP). Cost increases
for 2002 and 2003 once again outpaced inflation. Expect this
trend to continue as dental costs are projected to rise another
5% in 2004, according to HR consulting firm Towers Perrin.
In an effort to control costs, employers have continued to
shift away from traditional indemnity and HMO dental plans
as they search for more affordable ways to offer this desirable
employee benefit.
The
main beneficiary of the shift away from traditional indemnity
and HMO plans has been preferred provider organizations (PPOs),
according to the NADP report. Nevertheless, traditional indemnity
dental plans still have the largest market share at 39%, covering
approximately 54 million members. But indemnity plan enrollment
has fallen steadily from 78 million in 1996 to 60 million
in 2000 and it dropped another 8% in 2002. At the same time,
dental HMO participants declined to 23.4 million, representing
17% of the market.
Click here to read the
full article
Cause and Effect –
How Everyday Consumer Choices Can Impact Health Care Costs
Employers
and employees sometimes feel powerless in the face of rising
health care costs. Each year employers spend months trying
to figure out how to deal with increased premiums. Employees
dread insurance renewal time too, anxiously anticipating the
additional financial burden that will find its way to them
in some form.
Click here to
read the full article
Effective
Employee Communication: A Must to Ensure Understanding of
Health Insurance Rate Changes
Ensuring
employee understanding of benefit plan changes and rate changes
can be difficult, at best. When working to inform your employees
of changes in their benefit packages - be it coverage changes,
rate increases, or just additional information regarding their
benefits - experts advise keeping communications simple, straightforward,
and focused.
Start
by scheduling a mandatory employee meeting, or series of meetings.
Accurately and completely convey the necessary information,
then follow-up all meetings with a handout of matching written
materials that serve to reiterate the pertinent information
discussed in the meeting.
Click here to read the
full article
|
