U.S. employers have had an 80-year relationship with health insurers, sponsoring health plans that today cover 160 million Americans and their dependents. But as health costs continue to rise annually at near double-digit rates, the nation's employers are looking for more from health insurers to help them better manage their health benefit programs. A new report released by PricewaterhouseCoopers Health Research Institute finds mixed satisfaction ratings with insurer-sponsored services and meaningful differences between what small and large companies want.
According to a survey of 250 small employers (those with fewer than 250 employees) and 100 of the large multi-national companies (with an average of 8,000 employees) small employers are less satisfied with their insurer-provided health services than larger employers. Small businesses with less than 500 employees represent 99.9 percent of all employers in the United States according to the Small Business Association. Small business respondents reported greater dissatisfaction than big companies in 12 critical areas of service, including claims accuracy/timeliness, administration fees, provider discounts, wellness programs and online tools such as personal health records.
"Small employers could be the canaries in the coal mine for the employer-based model," said Michael J. Thompson, principal of PricewaterhouseCoopers' human resources services group. "Given that the majority of American workers are employed by small business and that the erosion of insurance coverage is among small employers, insurers are keenly interested in understanding what all employers want and how they can adapt plan designs and service offerings to better meet their needs."
