Medical insurance costs increase for manufacturing companies

Compdata Surveys

Despite legislation recently passed to bring costs in line, providing medical insurance continues to grow increasingly expensive for manufacturing employers across the country. The newly released 2010 Compensation Data Manufacturing survey results show manufacturing companies had an average premium increase of 11 percent. More than 80 percent of survey respondents report paying more than $7,200 annually for an employee plus family plan.

Employee plus spouse plans cost employers more than $4,800 per year. Manufacturers pay more than $2,400 each year for employee only coverage, with employees paying more than $300 per year for the same coverage. Although employees have become responsible for paying a larger portion of their medical insurance premiums over the last few years, employers still cover on average over 70 percent of the total cost.

"Employers have been feeling the financial pinch of increasing medical costs for several years now," said Amy Kaminski, director of marketing for Compdata Surveys, the nation's leading pay and benefits survey data provider. "The economic downturn of the last couple of years has only amplified financial concerns, causing organizations to increase their efforts to find ways to mitigate some of the costs of providing medical coverage for their employees."

To reduce costs, manufacturing companies employed a variety of methods. Increasing the employee portion of the premium was most prevalent at 56.7 percent, with an increase in deductible levels following at 46.9 percent. The results showed that 25.8 percent of organizations increased employee co-insurance levels. Offering a choice of deductible levels was utilized by 23 percent of survey respondents.

Cost containment measures are also a popular option as 83.8 percent of organizations surveyed use coordination of benefits to bring costs in line. More than half of manufacturing companies employ disease management, pharmacy benefit management and utilization reviews to contain costs. Pre-existing condition clauses are utilized by 41.9 percent of survey respondents.

About the survey
Compensation Data Manufacturing 2010 contains data on over 100 industry-specific job titles and more than 300 benchmark titles ranging from entry-level to top executives. Data was collected from nearly 1,100 manufacturing employers across the country. The results provide a comprehensive summary of pay data, benefit information and pay practices with an effective date of February 1, 2010.

Compdata Surveys is the nation's leading compensation and benefits survey data provider. Thousands of U.S. organizations provide data each year ensuring the reliability of our results. Compdata Surveys has been providing comprehensive data at affordable prices to organizations from coast to coast since 1988. For further information about their compensation and benefits surveys, contact Amy Kaminski at 800-300-9570.

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