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What's The Purpose of Health Plan Surveys?

October 13, 2015
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Get ready. We are about to get knee deep in the annual benefits open enrollment season. This includes open enrollments for Medicare, healthcare.gov and private sector health plans.

This is also the time of year that health care and health insurance policy wonks and writers comb through the latest health insurance surveys. The producers of these surveys include non-profits dedicated to health research and policy; employee benefits consulting firms, private research firms and human resource management associations.

Some of the organizations providing these surveys include:

  • Kaiser Employer Health Benefits Survey
  • Bureau of Labor Statistics Employee Benefits Survey
  • Marsh & McLennan Mid-Market Group Benefits Survey
  • SHRM Employee Benefits Survey
  • Mercer's National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans
By far the most quoted of these surveys is the Kaiser survey. You can count on seeing references to Kaiser in nearly every major written publication between now and the end of the year. But back to health plan surveys in general.

The Surveys Are Detailed, But Are The Responses…

The data for these surveys comes from hundreds of employers willing to complete detailed survey questionnaires. The surveys can take hours to complete but the most challenging part is deciphering the meaning of some of the questions. I know. I completed more of these surveys than I care to remember. Continue Reading...

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