The new age of health care benefits: saving money is important, but so is the welfare of your employees.

• Author: Myers, Deborah J.

Obtaining good, affordable health coverage for your employees isn't easy, especially if yours is one of the thousands of small companies in the state. It's like walking a tightrope between quality plans and low cost. If you lean too far either way, you lose your balance.

With all the hype over Health Savings Accounts and other alternatives to customary employee health benefits, it's easy to overlook the recent and upcoming changes in traditional plans.

GOING BY THE NUMBERS indicates several factors behind the changes in traditional health benefits. Overall, enrollment in employment-based health coverage has declined, but the number of uninsured remained unchanged in 2004, according to a report released in October 2005 by Employee Benefit Research Institute, a national benefits research organization based in Washington, D.C.

The report also found that the three-year average (2002-2004) of non-elderly population with employment-based coverage is 29.9 percent in Alaska, compared with 32.4 percent for the entire nation.

The study blames increasing premium costs for the decline of health benefits offered by employers, especially small employers, and attributes the steady number of uninsured compared to the reduced number of employer-insured to the rise in government-based public programs, which are offered primarily for the elderly, disabled and children.

Although dramatic rate hikes have been characteristic of the past several years, increases have begun to stabilize.

"It looks like we'll get a little relief from Premera Blue Cross/ Blue Shield," said David Stratton, chief operating officer for Stratton Turner LLC, a benefit management firm in Anchorage.

The carrier plans to increase rates by only seven percent, a marked difference from 2005, which saw the typical 23.25 percent increases.

PREVENTATIVE HEALTH has gained popularity in today's health care scene. More and more carriers see preventative health services as a means of saving them and their clients money.

"It's very helpful because if people lead a healthy lifestyle, the costs overall are lower," said Gerard Farkas, president of Gerard Farkas & Associates. "It's increasing to gain more notice by insurance companies."

Stratton has noticed that after the deductible and co-insurance, carriers have "pretty much taken limits off preventative care" in the hope of reducing future costs by nipping health issues in the bud.

Gina Bosnakis, senior account executive at the Alaska Association of...