Large Companies Are Increasingly Offering Workers Only High Deductible Health Plans

Historically, one of the perks of working at a big company has been generous health benefits with modest out-of-pocket costs. But increasingly, large companies are offering their employees only one option: a plan with a relatively high deductible linked to a savings account for medical expenses.

According to the annual health benefits survey by Towers Watson and the National Business Group on Health, 66 percent of companies with 1,000 employees or more offered at least one such plan this year. This figure is expected to grow to nearly 80 percent next year, according to the survey. At nearly 15 percent of companies surveyed, an account-based plan was the only option -- an increase from 7.6 percent in 2010.

In addition to saving companies money, shifting to health plans with higher deductibles and savings accounts is supposed to help workers become more cost-conscious in choosing health care. But the extent to which this is occurring is unclear. Because these account-based plans often expose workers to higher out-of-pocket spending, experts say the onus is on employers to give employees information they need to compare cost and quality and make good health care choices.  Whether this shift toward high deductible health plans continues may depend on whether good data and information can be made available to employees so that employers actually do see costs come down.