FALLS CHURCH, Va. -- Food retailers, wholesalers and distributors saw their health care costs rise 12% in the last two years and can expect to see costs jump 14.5% by the end of this year, according to a study by Food Distributors International here.
a on the four primary elements of a health care benefits package -- medical, dental, vision and prescriptions -- as well as other selected elements, such as employee assistance, wellness and fitness programs.
Data on benefits eligibility, administration, cost containment and other special programs are included, and all data is shown separately for food-service and retail/wholesale grocery participants.
Some key results from the survey include:
Retail/wholesale grocers (77%) are more likely to be at least partially self-insured for their health care benefits than food-service distributors (50%).
The median medical plan cost per employee is $2,772 annually with an average cost per employee of $3,353 annually.
Only 19% of food-service distributor companies and 42% of retail/wholesale grocer companies have an indemnity medical plan option for their employees, while 100% of survey participants from both groups offer a managed care plan.
Both retail/wholesale grocer and food-service distributor companies are less likely to absorb all of the increased health care costs. More than half of the participants surveyed said they are passing a portion of cost to employees and searching for lower-cost alternatives.
FDI said it believes trends charted in this report will provide insight into health care strategies, practices and programs.
