Health-insurance deductibles spike; rural workers seem less inclined to choose that course

According to a survey of employers by the Mercer consulting firm, reported in The Wall Street Journal's Health Blog, the average deductible for preferred provider organizations (PPOs), the most common health insurance plan in the United States, has increased $430 since 2005, from $770 to $1,200. The finding is based on a survey of 2,836 employers with 10 or more employees.

The largest employers in the survey, those with more than 20,000 workers, were more likely than medium or small businesses to report increased enrollment in plans with high deductibles tied to health savings accounts. On average, these plans save employers about $2,000 a year per employee, as out-of-pocket deductible and co-insurance costs are shifted to workers and their families. Based on these findings, rural workers, who are far more likely to be employed by smaller firms and earn lower wages, appear less inclined to opt for the potentially high cost of these plans.

Overall, these findings suggest a return to the pre-reform pace of cost increases for health insurance. Health benefit costs rose a reported 6.9 percent in 2010 compared to 5.5 percent in 2009. Nevertheless, an earlier Mercer survey found that employers attributed 2 percentage points of an anticipated 5.9 percent cost increase next year to the provisions of the new health reform law. Mercer is a global firm that specializes in, among other things, acquisitions and mergers, outsourcing, and the management of benefit costs.