Atlanta firms keep lid on health care costs

Atlanta employers tamed their health benefits costs in 2008 better than their counterparts nationally, according to a survey released this week.

A nationwide survey by consulting firm Mercer found that while U.S. employers saw their health costs rise by 6.3 percent this year, employers in Atlanta had just a 2.6 percent increase.

A few employers here had their benefit costs actually decrease from their 2007 figure, said David Foster, an Atlanta-based consultant for Mercer, which provides consulting, outsourcing and investment services to corporations. “Atlanta employers were more aggressive in containing costs,” Foster said.

In past years, Atlanta companies had slightly higher percentage increases in their health costs — the premiums paid by both employer and workers — than the national average in Mercer’s annual survey. Nationally, Mercer surveyed about 2,900 employers in 2008.

Most of the 41 Atlanta employers Mercer surveyed have work forces of more than 1,000, and thus have more clout in finding affordable health insurance. Their cost-controlling tactics included raising deductibles, co-pays and out-of-pocket spending limits, Foster said.

“Raising deductibles has become the fallback for companies faced with cost increases they can’t handle,” he said.

In addition, 27 percent of local employers offered a “consumer-directed” health plan, a high-deductible policy that offers tax-preferred savings options to pay for medical expenses. Premiums for consumer-directed plans with savings plans are generally lower for both employers and workers than for other types of benefits plans.

Atlanta employers also saved money through disease management and health promotion programs, including smoking cessation and weight loss, Foster said.

But Atlanta companies face steeper cost increases next year. Mercer found employers here expect a 7.5 percent rise, even with changes to health plans such as raising deductibles and their employees’ share of the premium.