Survey search: Views of cost containment strategies and effects.

Employees and benefits, senior and human resources executives in companies with over 500 employees, along with insurance brokers and benefits consultants, were interviewed by phone for the "Equitable Healthcare Survey III." Plan design changes made to help contain health care costs, the "selling" of these changes (particularly cost-sharing) and the perceived effectiveness of various cost management strategies (including perceptions of behavioral change) were all explored. Generally, the findings about what is working, or believed to work, are mixed.