Zywave, leading provider of tools for insurance brokers, today announces the release of a comprehensive set of 2011 health plan benchmarks, allowing brokers to put hard data behind their expertise as they guide clients to make effective plan design choices. The report highlights trends and statistics from close to 50,000 employers across the nation.
Leveraging data from more than 70,000 plans, the report segments data by region, group size, industry and plan type, providing an accurate picture of the competitiveness of employers’ plans against like companies. Seven key plan design measures were analyzed in this report: plan type, coinsurance, emergency room copay, individual deductible, individual out-of-pocket maximum, office visit copay and Rx deductible.
“Zywave is committed to finding new ways to help our Partners differentiate and better service their clients,” said Dave O’Brien, executive vice president and chief marketing officer at Zywave. “Benchmark data gives brokers a pulse on plan design trends across the nation, and this in-depth report offers brokers and their clients valuable insight into how plans compare in their specific market.”
Notable findings include:
- HSAs were generally more popular among smaller employers (less than 500 employees). In addition, at least 15 percent of plans were HSAs in all regions except the North East, where only 8 percent were.
- Regarding individual deductibles, employees with less than 500 employees tended toward a high deductible ($2,500+), while larger employers favored deductibles between $0 and $750.
- $2,000-$3,499 was the most prevalent individual out-of-pocket maximum among all regions, industries and group sizes.
- There was significant regional variation regarding office visit copay. The northern regions favored $20-$24, the South Atlantic region preferred $25-$29, and the most popular in the South Central and West regions was $30-$34.
- Rx deductible results were interesting. The two most popular amounts overall were $0-$49 and $250+, representing opposite ends of the spectrum and suggesting a dichotomy in how employers view this plan design measure.
About Zywave
Zywave is the leading provider of software-as-a-service (SaaS) technology solutions for the insurance and financial services industries. The company’s products include Web-enabled marketing communications, business intelligence and analytics, agency automation, and needs-assessment and financial planning tools. More than 350,000 financial and insurance professionals, including 90 of the Top 100 U.S. insurance firms and dozens of the world’s largest financial institutions, use Zywave’s proven solutions to help them differentiate from the competition, enhance client services, improve efficiencies and achieve organic growth. To learn more, visit www.zywave.com.
###