Boston, MA – April 5, 2013 – For the third consecutive year, Advanced Analytical Consulting Group’s (“AACG”) research about employer funding of workers’ health benefits was presented to Congress and is now available on the Department of Labor website and at www.AACG.com/healthcare. Among other results, the report documents diverging trends among smaller and larger employers: smaller employers are increasingly purchasing insurance for the financial risks of healthcare benefits, whereas larger employers increasingly favor self-insurance. While these trends have existed for at least a decade, the migration toward self-insurance among larger employers appears to have accelerated recently.
Most Americans with health insurance receive coverage through an employer, who may purchase insurance from an external insurance company or elect to self-insure. Based on AACG’s analysis of health plans’ annual reports for 2010, 48 percent of plans with 100 or more participants were self-insured or funded through a mixture of external insurance and self-insurance. Large plans were more likely to self-insure than small plans, so that self-insured or mixed-funded plans covered 83 percent of plan participants. “We noticed a paradox in that the self-insured share of plans was dropping, while covering increasingly many workers,” stated Dr. Stan Panis, co-author of the report and a Principal at AACG. “The explanation was found in diverging behavior among employers, with the smaller plans moving away from self-insurance and the larger ones increasingly adopting it.”
“The healthcare landscape is in flux,” commented Dr. Daniel S. Levy, AACG founder. “Our studies show how employers are adjusting to new mandates and greater uncertainty over benefit expenses. They help Congress and others address the health finance challenges that our nation is facing.” AACG performed the study in conjunction with Deloitte FAS LLP to assist the Secretary of Labor with annual reports to Congress that were mandated by the Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA).
About Advanced Analytical Consulting Group, Inc. Founded by former Senior Managers and national leadership of the Economics and Statistical Consulting Group of Deloitte’s Financial Advisory Services in 2009, AACG provides economic, statistical, and computing consulting for business decisions and litigation. AACG assists business clients with strategic and operational consulting based on in-depth quantitative analysis of corporate data and the client’s position in the market. AACG provides expert testimony, support for academic experts, and assistance in identifying the right expert from academic and business settings. From offices in Boston and Washington, D.C., economists at AACG have served clients on matters in Afghanistan, Australia, Belgium, Britain, Canada, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Qatar, Russia, Singapore, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, United Arab Emirates, The United States, and Venezuela.