Health Human Resources Case Analysis

The history and trends of employee benefits management.

In the past, employers selected the benefits that they wanted to provide to their employees with very little (to no) input from them. They (employers) also shouldered the entire cost of providing these benefits. But over the years due to several factors that include an ever-changing marketplace, the development of new industries, government regulations, and technological advances (just to name a few) this practice is no longer feasible. Not only would it now be extremely costly for an employer to completely fund every single benefit that is provided, but employees would not accept being shut-out of such an important decision making process that impacts them so greatly. This is what led to employers giving their employees more of a voice where their benefits are concerned.

According to the website of Sesco Management Consultants (www.sescomgt.com), there are several new trends in managing employee benefits:

*Cost Containment- Employers will continue to adopt various means for limiting their health care cost increases. Many will increase employees' share of costs by raising deductibles, co-payments, and coinsurance.

*Consumer-Directed Health Plans -This type of health plan will continue to gain favor as a coverage option. Consumer-directed plans place more responsibility on the individual for managing health care costs. In one survey of employers, fifty-eight percent of those surveyed said health care reform will drive large employers to adopt consumer-directed plans as the only type of health plan for their active employees.

*Wellness Programs -These programs will be increasingly implemented to help health plan participants improve and manage their health and thereby hold down their long-term health costs. Wellness programs often target life style changes that can assist in managing diabetes, hypertension, etc.

*Retiree Health Benefits -These plans will fade further from the picture of...