To support cost-sharing measures around health care expenditures, more large employers are offering workers claims advocacy services as part of their benefit package, reports the HR consulting firm Mercer.

New research on employer-sponsored health plans shows that 53% of employers with 500 or more workers reported that they provide health claims support as an employee benefit, up from 47% in 2008.

Employers continue to require workers to foot more of the costs to their medical bills. Mercer reports that, from 2004 to 2009, the average individual deductible for in-network services in a preferred provider organization jumped from $686 to $1,096. In addition, nearly 70% of U.S. employers will shift more health benefit costs to employees in 2010 by increasing premiums and/or by raising deductibles, copays/coinsurance and out-of-pocket maximums.  

Claims support services may help mitigate some employee criticism associated with shifting more health care costs onto workers. “One of the many benefits of a health care claims advocacy service is that it provides a balance to this requirement for increased responsibility with additional support when employees need it the most, explains Sander Domaszewicz, a principal in Mercer’s health and benefits consulting business and national health consumerism leader. “[The service] sends an empowering message that an employee doesn’t have to completely ‘go it alone’ when navigating the health care system,” he adds.

The claims advocacy service, which entails health plan experts assisting participants with claims disputes and research, is still an emerging trend, compared to other health services in employer-sponsored health plans. For example, according to the 2009 research, health risk assessments (73%) and disease management programs (71%) topped the list of health services offered in health plans sponsored by larger employers. 

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