McGraw Wentworth's Annual Survey Underway to Benchmark Michigan Benefits Trends, Employers’ Response to Health Care Reform

Insight into cost management, spousal coverage, and wellness trends will help participating employers plan for 2015.

Troy, Michigan, January 20, 2014 – McGraw Wentworth, a Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC company, has launched its 11th annual Southeast Michigan Mid-Market Group Benefits Survey.  The free survey will provide employers and human resources professionals with trend data to understand how their peers adapted to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) and to guide their 2015 employee health care benefit strategies.

More than 550 southeast Michigan organizations are expected to participate in the 2014 Mid-Market Survey, which includes new data points to reflect the changes in employer-sponsored health care. The resulting analysis will:

• Provide insight into how Michigan organizations modified their plans to address the policies and practices required by ACA.
• Identify whether employers modified or plan to modify workforce strategies due to the “play or pay” employer penalty, implementation of which was delayed to 2015. 
• Highlight the use of defined contribution plans, private exchanges and public marketplaces.
• Examine the use of cost control strategies such as consumer driven health plans (CDHPs), telemedicine, and spousal coverage.
• Review PPO, HMO and CDHP plan deductibles and co-pays set by Southeast Michigan employers.
• Track the growing interest in and usage of wellness and disease management programs.
• Identify actions taken by TrendBendersTM, high-performing organizations that have kept average cost increases below trend over the past two years.

“The ACA has had a profound impact on employer-provided health care and more changes are still to come.  The survey results, available within the same year of data collection, will help Michigan employers adapt their workforce and benefits strategies accordingly for 2015 and beyond,” said Rebecca McLaughlan, Managing Director, McGraw Wentworth. “This data is also helpful for Michigan employers that are competing to recruit and retain talent in a rebounding economy.”

Mid-size employers with 100-10,000 employees in southeast Michigan — including manufacturing, technology, service, government, education and not-for-profit organizations -- benefit from the extensive survey analysis.  Participants are invited to attend a free, accredited seminar to receive the results and analysis, along with a tailored report benchmarking their organization against industry peers and the entire dataset. All data will be confidential. Interested organizations can contact Ryan Bowers at (248) 822-6231 or visit mcgrawwentworth.com

McGraw Wentworth, a Marsh & McLennan Agency LLC company, is an award-winning group benefits consulting and brokerage firm based in Troy, Michigan. The company counsels clients on how to structure their group benefit programs and provides strategic planning, utilization review, benefit design, employee communications, compliance assistance and related services. The firm is supported by Marsh & McLennan, the premier global provider of advice and solutions in risk, strategy and human capital.  Follow McGraw Wentworth on twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook