As your company has likely experienced, health care costs were expected to rise between 5 and 11 percent in 2011, according to several reputable surveys and research groups.

Several causes were cited, including the slow economic recovery and increased health care utilization; the most notable factor was the cost to implement various health care reform provisions.

Faced with this cost increase and the expectation of continued rising costs, employers shared in these surveys various strategies they were utilizing or considering to control health care costs.