They also could include consumer-directed health plans (CDHPs), which can cut premiums by nearly 20 percent and give consumers a tax break.

But these plans come with a tradeoff: higher deductibles, which have the potential to swamp customers with big medical bills.

Industry analysts say CDHPs can benefit people on both ends of the health care spending spectrum, but they can be risky for people with tight budgets and little savings.

"Those are plans that you have to be really careful with," said Bill Boyd, a partner and chief financial officer of Boyd Consulting Group in Janesville, Wis. "It really depends on the group of employees you're taking it to."

. . . [Employers] also considering value-added options and benefits that give employees more services and allow the employers to realize package discounts from the insurance companies, he said.

Dan Robinson, a vice president of Hays Companies, said he's seeing another trend: a move to "spousal carve-out" plans where an employer that self-funds its plan will cover an employee but not his or her spouse if the spouse can get coverage at his or her workplace.

"It's not unusual at all for an employer to spend more on a per-capita basis on a spouse than the employee," Robinson said.

The rest of the story . . . .