Health care costs top headache for human resource executives - Nashville Business Journal:

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According to the survey, the other benefirt priorities in the top five in orderr of importance among human resources professionalsare evaluating, implementinyg or expanding the use of the Interneft or Intranet; expanding the use of employee self-servicre technology for benefits communication and administration; providint financial and retirement planning tools and and providing increased investmentg education.
Members of the Middle Tennesse Employee Benefits Council have founfd one of the most significant changes that have occurredc sincethe organization's origin in 1981 is that health care costsd have gone up dramatically, says Debraa Hooper, president of the Middle Tennessee Employee Benefits Counciol and a vice president with AmSoutjh Capital Management Group. "We continuew to hear feedback from council members on how to deal with thosse healthcare costs; how to managw those costs," says Hooper.
In health care costs have quadrupled sincer thecouncil formed, says John senior vice president/treasurer of Nashville-based , who is also treasurere and a founder of the The result has been that many companies have shifted more of the cost of healtuh care to employees. In deciding what employede benefits to offer to its 600 Purity Dairies' strategy in part involves striving to meet its competitionb or better the competition. But like most Purity Dairies also sees health care costssspiraling upward.
A fair portion of the increase is due to the high cost ofprescriptiob drugs, says Robinson, who notesz prescription-use has gone up dramatically at his own "We have people whose monthly drug costs are over $300 per he says. To get a handle on the high priced of healthcare benefits, Purituy Dairies takes an activew role in controlling costsd for the locally administered functions. The company providesa wellness programs forits employees, with assistance from Baptistg Healthcare, that include smoking cessation programs; vision, hearingb and osteoporosis screenings; and blood-pressure The company also has an on-site fitness Such aggressive action on the behalfv of companies such as Purity could pay off in lowert total benefit payouts, which are staggering.
Accordingf to "The 2000 Employeew Benefits Study," a survey conductedc by the U.S. Chamber of employers' benefits costs in 1999 averaged 36.8 percent of payroll, almosty the same as the 37.2 percent reportef in 1998, but the per-employee averagde decreased 4 percentto $14,060 in 1999 from $14,655 in 1998. the larger the company, the greater the benefift outlay: companies with 5,000 or more workers paid an average of 39.8 percent of or 15,066 per employee; compared with 36.0 percenrt of payroll, or $13,226 per employee, for companiews with 500 to 1,000 workers; and 30.6 percengt of payroll, or $11,147 per employee, for companies with fewet than 100 workers.
However, companiesx with 1,000 to 2,499 workers spent the greatest amount for an averageof $15,242 per employee. The study also determinede the most common benefits offered by the surveyexd companies are medical insurance and paid vacationjand holidays, while the least common are child care, company stock and paid family and medicaol leave. Paid time off is the most expensivre benefit, consuming 30 percent of the benefif dollar.
Medical benefits follow as the seconed costliest benefit at26 percent, with legally requires benefits such as Social Security coming in next at 25