Governments pay more share than private sector

Though public employers are taking steps to share the costs of plans, they remain more generous than corporations, professional service firms and multiemployer plans, according to a recent survey by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans (IFEBP), a Milwaukee-based nonprofit focused on employee benefits and compensation information.

Like most employers, public sector agencies are likely to require employees to pay a portion of their health insurance premiums. Three-quarters of public employers ask participants to share the cost of single coverage, and 86 percent do so for family coverage. That is only slightly lower than the percentage of corporations (90 percent), which require payment of premiums. However, public employers are more likely to ask for 10 percent to 15 percent payment, while corporations are more likely to ask in the 15 percent to 30 percent range.

Deductibles are outliers in public sector practices. The IFEBP study found that 62 percent of public employers require a deductible for single coverage, which is considerably less than corporations (79 percent), professional service firms (85 percent) and multiemployer plans (79 percent). If public employers require deductibles, the most common level is $500, which is the same as corporations. Public employers are also more generous with family coverage, with a similar rate of coverage.

Two areas of health care cost management where public employers take stronger positions are dependent eligibility audits (58 percent) and opt-out incentives (30 percent), according to the IFEBP study. The public sector is about 10 percent more likely to use each of those management techniques.

However, in the area of wellness initiatives, the public sector is even with the average for all employers (63 percent), but it is still behind corporations (70 percent). In areas like case management, where medical-related services are coordinated on behalf of an employee, public employers (71 percent) are slightly higher than the average. In disease management, where medical intervention and information is focused on a particular condition or conditions, the public sector leads all areas (77 percent) and is almost 10 percent more likely than average to provide the service. “The public sector is definitely realizing that it may cost some money to get a project going, but that they can save on long-term plan costs,” says Julie Stich, senior information and research specialist at IFEBP.

Kellar agrees that wellness initiatives have drawn a great deal of attention in the public sector. “Governments have found that they keep employees motivated,” she says. “And, employers feel they are doing something to show they care about employees.”