Recipe for confusion: employee-benefits soup.

• Position: Healthcare benefits offered by employers and health maintenance organizations

The world of employee benefits has become a veritable alphabet soup: FSAs, HRAs, HSAs, FMLA, COBRA, HIPAA, QDRO. It's hardly any wonder that more companies today are opting not to offer health-care benefits at all.

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The greatest risk and deterrent for employers offering benefits to their employees isn't the fear of some big medical bill, but rather compliance with the many laws, regulations and requirements such programs involve, says Frederick Hunt, president of the Society of Professional Benefits Administrators.

With employers now spending about $300 billion annually on employee health insurance, it's not surprising that employers are seeking ways to control their costs, while giving consumers more control over how their health care dollars are spent.

The variety of benefit plans available, coupled with the myriad of new approaches to control health costs, are among the chief reasons for confusion today, says Roger Ehrman of Ehrman & Associates Inc., an independent benefits broker in Arvada. The need for good communication is paramount. "If you can get the people using the plan to understand some of the new concepts, the employer's going to be able to accomplish a lot more as far as getting control of their costs," Ehrman said.

Colorado's health insurance community is still getting familiar with the newest wrinkle, the group high deductible health plan (HDHP) that's qualified to be coupled with a Health Savings Account. HSAs are tax-deductible, interest-bearing accounts that permit unused funds to roll over from year to year. The account goes with the individual even if he or she changes jobs.

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Brendan Krelle, Anthem Blue Cross of Colorado's director of Small Group and Mid-Market Sales, says interest in the HSAs was as strong as anything he's seen in 16 years in the business during recent meetings with the state's 700 benefits brokers. Anthem has "dozens" of small and medium-size companies beginning to offer high deductible health plans paired with HSAs starting this month, the first time the offering has been available, Krelle says.

With companies heading into the health insurance benefit renewal season, company executives interested in adding HSAs and HDHPs need to be sure the plan they pick comes with tools to help their employees know whether this option is right for them.

Typically, HSAs allow contributions equal to the lesser of 100 percent of the health plan deductible or a maximum of...