Are organizations in your industry offering health care coverage to part-time employees, domestic partners and/or parents and grandchildren? Have you thought of redesigning your plan? The latest installment in the International Foundation’s Survey & Sample Series includes responses submitted by 400 International Foundation and International Society of Certified Employee Benefit Specialists (ISCEBS) members.
Despite concerns about the rising cost of providing health care benefits, employers continue to do so out of concern for workers’ well-being and as a recruitment and retention technique. Health care benefits are commonly offered, but policies can vary widely in their coverage of employees, dependents, services, tests and therapies, as indicated by results of a survey conducted by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans.
Almost all (99.7%) employer respondents (corporations, public employers and professional service firms) offer health care benefits to full-time employees, and nearly half (49.9%) offer benefits to part-time employees. Adopted and biological children are covered dependents for 99.5% of all responding organizations (corporations, public employers, professional service firms and multiemployer funds). Other covered dependents include
The survey looks at coverage for over 100 types of services, therapies, tests and conditions. Among the highlights: Mammography and Pap tests are covered diagnostic tests for almost all responding organizations (99.8% and 99%, respectively). More than 90% cover expenses for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), colorectal screening and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests.
Other health expenditures covered include
The survey, administered in October and November 2007 as part of the Survey & Sample Series, details responses about health care benefits offered to various types of employees and dependents, and looks at coverage for over 100 types of services, therapies, tests and conditions. The 400 responses, from Foundation and ISCEBS members, represent corporations (56%), professional service firms (20.1%), public employers (15%) and multiemployer benefit plans (8.8%) in the United States. Twenty-two sample health care policies and summary plan descriptions are included.
Health Care Benefits: Eligibility, Coverage and Exclusions is available entirely in CD-ROM format or in print format with samples only on a companion CD-ROM. The book costs $131 (I.F. Members $52), plus shipping and handling. Item #6412.
To purchase a copy of Health Care Benefits: Eligibility, Coverage and Exclusions or any of the other publications in the Survey & Sample Series, see www.ifebp.org/surveysample; call (888) 334-3327, option 4; fax (262) 786-8780; e-mail bookstore@ifebp.org; or send a check to the Publications Department, International Foundation, P.O. Box 68-9953, Milwaukee, WI 53268-9953.