Employers report offering fewer choices in health plans

The annual health benefits survey by Towers Watson and the National Business Group on Health found that 66 percent of companies with 1,000 employees or more offered at least one high deductible health plan this year (Source: “Employee health-plan options shrinking to one with a high deductible,” Washington Post, March 25, 2013). 

And that figure is expected to grow to nearly 80 percent next year, according to the survey. Also, the number of companies where a single high-deductible plan is the only option available has nearly doubled in the past two years, from 7.6 percent in 2010 to 15 percent this year.