Don't count on employers to stop offering health benefitsaltogether, but do count on big changes in how they offer thebenefits.

That's the main finding from recent analysis by Aon Hewitt. Thevast majority of large and mid-size U.S. employers — 94% — saythey'll continue to offer health benefits to their employees in thenext three to five years, but almost two-thirds plan to move awayfrom a traditional “managed trend” approach to one that requiresparticipants to take a more active role in their health careplanning.

The consulting firm surveyed nearly 800 large and mid-size U.S.employers covering more than 7 million employees.

“The health care marketplace is becoming increasingly complex,”said John Zern, executive vice president for Aon Hewitt. “Newmodels of delivery, new approaches to managing health and newcompliance requirements are challenging employers to thinkdifferently about their role in owning health insuranceresponsibilities for employees and their dependents.”

Aon Hewitt said the amount employers spend on health care hasincreased by 40% in the past six years to approximately $8,800 peremployee. Meanwhile, employee premium and out-of-pocket costs haveincreased 64% to almost $5,000 per year. Aon Hewitt estimates thathealth care costs for both employers and employees will continue torise 8% to 9% per year for the foreseeable future.

Zern said though employers are staying in the health benefitsgame, they are taking “bold and assertive steps to achieve moreeffective results” — and they are doing so at a faster pace thanhas been seen in previous years.

Almost 40% of employers expect to migrate toward a “housemoney/house rules” approach in the next three to five years. Forexample, participants who take health risk questionnaires andbiometric screenings may be rewarded in the form of lower premiumsor access to broader health coverage.

Other employers may waive prescription drug co-pays if anemployee demonstrates they are following their doctor's orders withregard to a chronic condition. Lastly, some leading-edge employersare working with health plans to incentivize participants to use asmall provider network of high quality, cost-efficient providers,Aon Hewitt finds.

Though just 6% of employers plan to exit health care completelyin the next three to five years, 28% say they're planning to moveto a private health care exchange.

Jim Winkler, chief innovation office the U.S. Health &Benefits practice at Aon Hewitt, said that private exchanges are an“increasingly attractive option” to organizations that want tooffer employees health care choice while lowering future costtrends and lessening the administrative burden associated withsponsoring a health plan.

“The allure of exiting completely is strong until you look atthe numbers,” Winkler said. “Between the Affordable Care Actpenalties for failing to offer coverage and the ensuing talentflight risk, most employers believe they need to continue to play arole in employee health, but want a different and betteroutcome.”

This article was originally posted at BenefitsPro.com, a sister site of CreditUnion Times.