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Towers Perrin Poll Shows Significant
Employer-Employee Gap on Health Care Consumerism
Employers Want Employees to Become Better Health Care Consumers
Employees Feel They Already Are Improved Communication Seen as
Key
April 2003 (Newstream) -- Faced with four consecutive years of
double-digit increases, employers are seeking a new ally - their
employees - to help curb rising health care costs. Yet the companies
face a hard sell: While employees agree that rising health care
costs are a problem, they do not believe it is theirs to fix.
"Our poll reveals serious disconnects between employee and employer
perceptions on health care," said Jim Foreman, managing director
of Health and Welfare for Towers Perrin. "Employers' challenge
is convincing their employees to change behavior around utilizing
health care while their workforces feel that they already pay
a fair share of health care costs and view themselves as effective
healthcare consumers."
The Towers Perrin survey, entitled Keeping Employees Engaged
About Health Care, found that most employees (87%) agree that
health care costs are outpacing inflation. A majority (63%) also
agree that such costs have an impact on employer profits. However,
less than half (46%) believe that employers are unable to absorb
the increase or that it is fair for employers to ask employees
to pay more out of pocket. (see CHART 1)
Nevertheless, as many U.S. companies shift more responsibility
and accountability for health care costs to employees, they also
are considering health plan designs that encourage employees to
become more effective health care consumers.
"Health care consumerism is a shared employer-employee responsibility,"
explained Foreman. "Employers provide employees with the tools
they need to become better consumers. Employees, in turn, agree
to share in the costs and make informed decisions about lifestyle
and health care choices.
"Some people confuse the term consumerism with consumer-driven
health plans," Foreman noted. "Consumer-driven health plans are
simply one element of a consumerism strategy. These plans bundle
accountability and support by providing a health care reimbursement
account and catastrophic coverage.
"While some employers are switching from traditional plans to
consumer-driven health plans in an effort to reduce costs," Foreman
added, "most are simply weaving elements of consumerism into their
existing health plans."
Communication Is Key
"Rather than just communicating information about health care
costs to employees, companies must be more visible in how they
actively manage the experience that employees and their families
receive," said Mark Schumann, the leader of Towers Perrin's Communication
practice. "While employees aren't looking to their companies for
health care advice, the employer can be the vehicle to deliver
trusted and helpful information."
The survey, according to Schumann, shows that the most helpful
employer- provided communications are those tied to health-related
Web sites and medical hot lines not under the employer's control.
"This foretells a future of company partnerships with best-in-class
information providers to relay messages and keep employees engaged,"
Schumann added (see CHART 2).
Age and Health Factors Influence Perception
Age and health status also is significant in employee perception
on health care consumerism, according to the Towers Perrin survey.
Other key findings indicate that younger workers (less than 35
years old) are less inclined to support sharing cost increases:
Only 28% of younger workers polled thought it was fair for employers
to ask them to absorb some of the annual increases in health care
costs, compared to more than 50% of older workers (35+ years).
And only 44% of younger employees believed that increasing health
care costs have an impact on an employer's bottom line, compared
to more than 70% of older workers.
Employees who consider themselves to be in poor health are far
more receptive to receiving expert guidance and following suggestions
from health experts regarding care than others who consider themselves
to be in good health; those in poor health are also more interested
in receiving information and support than healthier colleagues
(see CHART 3).
"In many ways, the findings of our consumerism survey mirror
the findings of an earlier survey by Towers Perrin and Gang &
Gang, entitled Working Today: Exploring Employees' Emotional
Connection to Their Jobs," said Foreman. "Our Working Today
study found that unless employers make the effort to understand
what drives employees, they may invest in some of the wrong programs
and fail to create the type of work environment they seek."
"In both surveys, Towers Perrin found creating a positive work
environment is well within reach," added Schumann. "The key to
success is to keep employees engaged during this process. Companies
that do this well will achieve their cost- saving goals and motivate
employees to contribute to long-term solutions. Consumerism is
not a magic pill, but it represents a critical element in achieving
sustainable cost savings.
"Companies need to clearly articulate what they need from employees,
or consumers, at the three points of choice," continued Schumann.
"Those three points are when a plan is chosen at enrollment, as
people manage their lifestyles, and as they manage their care.
Variations will exist from company to company by virtue of plan
design and the role of the consumer at each point of choice. By
establishing the means of effective communication with employees,
and helping them become better health care consumers, companies
can minimize the effects of double-digit health care cost increases."
Sean Connelly, the Towers Perrin organization and employee research
consultant who helped to design and manage the study, says that
it is absolutely critical to understand the perceptions of employees
when it comes to these complex, and often sensitive, issues. "In
fact, not a lot of research has yet been done about what drives
employee behaviors relative to health care utilization. Companies
that take the time to benchmark and monitor employee perceptions
in this area are much more likely to deliver programs and services
to truly change behavior.
"While this study provides an excellent overview of the issues,
every company has unique circumstances that are important to diagnose,"
adds Connelly.
About the Survey
To understand employee perceptions on health care, Towers Perrin
conducted a national survey in February 2003. Survey respondent
requirements included:
- Working for an employer with at least 1,000 employees
- Health benefits are provided by employer (or spouse's employer).
Results were weighted to be representative of the U.S. population.
About Towers Perrin
Towers Perrin is one of the world's largest human resource consulting
and administration firms. It helps organizations manage their
investment in people to achieve measurable performance improvements,
focusing on human resource strategy and service delivery, benefit
and compensation design and implementation, employee and organizational
communication, HR technology and outsourced HR administration.
Towers Perrin is part of a broader family of businesses that also
includes Tillinghast(Towers Perrin, a management consultancy for
financial services companies worldwide, and Towers Perrin Reinsurance,
a reinsurance intermediary and consultancy. Together, these businesses
have over 9,000 employees and 78 offices in 76 cities and 23 countries.
More information about Towers Perrin is available at www.towersperrin.com.
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Produced for Towers Perrin
Contact:
Stanley Davis
(914) 745-4191
stanley.davis@towers.com
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