As head of human resources for a Minnesota company with 1,600 employees that manufactures equipment for the mining industry, Scott Arndt saw the writing on the wall five years ago: Health insurance premiums were going to keep increasing by leaps and bounds unless his company, Superior Industries International, did something.
Superior Industries is the largest employer in Morris, Minn., and it made a choice that was unusual in the region: It signed up for a high-deductible health plan with a health reimbursement account. That means to ease the pain of a $2,000 deductible for a single person and a $4,000 premium for a family, it deposits half the deductible in its employees’ accounts. Over the last year, the company has been able to hold down premium increases — last year there was a zero percent bump, and for the coming calendar year, it expects a modest 4 percent increase.
– The Washington Post