McGraw Wentworth Survey to Benchmark Employee Benefit Trends Among 600+ Michigan Employers

TROY and GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., Jan. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- While the future of health care reform is debated, Michigan organizations are pursuing strategies to manage current health care costs which are predicted to increase between 8% and 12% in 2010.  These increases will have a major effect on employers as they work to emerge from the recent economic downturn and compete to keep and attract talented employees to Michigan.  What are top-performing companies doing -- or not doing -- to achieve lower-than-average cost increases in employee health benefits?  How does Michigan compare to national benchmarks?  Data for decision-making, answers to these questions, and more will be gathered in the McGraw Wentworth 2010 Mid-Market Group Benefit Survey beginning January 26.

The survey will evaluate the usage trend and cost impact of health care benefit strategies, such as higher deductibles, tiered co-pays, Wellness incentives, Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), spousal surcharges, and smoker surcharges. The analysis also will determine the 2010 Total Cost Ratio of what Michigan employers and employees pay for benefits -- including premiums, employee payroll contributions and out of pocket costs.  

Mid-sized employers with 100-10,000 employees in southeast and west Michigan -- including manufacturing, technology, service, government, education and not-for-profit organizations -- benefit from the survey analysis, including a tailored report benchmarking each participant against their industry peers as well as the entire dataset.

"This is a pivotal year to participate given the significant changes in the health care benefits offered by the automotive manufacturers, suppliers and other Michigan employers," says Rebecca McLaughlan, Managing Director, McGraw Wentworth.  "This tool offers mid-size organizations the ability to immediately evaluate plan design options and the cost impact, during a time in which employer-sponsored health care is quickly changing."

The survey will also examine the plan design strategies employed by TrendBenders(TM), high performing trend setting organizations that have successfully kept average cost increases at 0% to 2% over the past two years.

The survey is sponsored by McGraw Wentworth, Michigan's largest employee group benefit consulting and brokerage firm, recently ranked nationally as a Top Agent/Broker to Work For by Business Insurance magazine.  Employers who complete the free survey will be invited to participate in one of several exclusive survey results sessions to be held in May and June.  All data will be confidential. To register, call Ryan Bowers at McGraw Wentworth, (248) 822-6231 or visit mcgrawwentworth.com.  

SOURCE McGraw Wentworth