More employers may be shifting to self-fundedhealth plans, and fewer are offering full or evenpartial spousalcoverage, as corporations redesign their benefitspackages in response to the shifting healthbenefits landscape.

These trends were among those spotted by actuarial firm ConradSiegel Actuaries. The firm does an annual health benefits survey;this year, 130 companies from a range of industries responded.

The biggest shift noted occurred in spousal coverage. In 2012,Conrad Siegel said, 20% of respondents either charged spouses forcoverage or excluded them. In this year's survey, that shot up to47%.

This year's survey found that 69% offer spousal coverage andthat 16% require a surcharge.

The shift in self-funded plans, from 40% in 2013 to 52% thistime around, was likely driven by the healthinsurance tax, Conrad Siegel said, which is assessedon fully insured plans but not self-funded plans.

Meantime, the survey suggested that increasing the employee'sshare of plan premium may be a less favored tactic for cost controlby employers. The average shares reported in 2014, 15% foremployees and 21% for families, were essentially unchanged thisyear, Conrad Siegel said.

“As we continue to see health care costs increase, employers aremore prone to reduce benefits rather than passing costs on toemployees through payroll deductions,” Conrad Siegel partner RobGlus said. “To a degree, this may be in response to concerns overthe impending impact of the Cadillactax. To mitigate the increasing costs, many employersare taking on more risk with self funding, cutting back on spousalcoverage and encouraging employees to better manage their coststhrough consumer directed plans.”