How much do we really spend on health care?

$19,393! That is the average total health care cost for a family of four covered by a PPO Plan, up from $18,074 in 2010. 2011 marks the fourth straight year that medical costs have increased by more than 7 percent. Employers still pay most of the health care cost for families, but the portion paid by the worker reached an all-time high of almost 40 percent this year.

To help absorb these rising health care costs, employers are asking their employees to pay deductibles, even if the care is within a plan’s network of providers. Companies raise in-network deductibles because it’s an easier way to address rising health care costs than more drastic measures like changing provider networks or prescription-drug coverage. Health care costs are rising mainly due to price increases in categories like pharmacy, inpatient or outpatient hospital care and doctors’ office visits.

But there is a way employers can still save money and improve the bottom line even during these times. Among the options available during open enrollment, there is a category of work place benefits that provides a direct return every time an employee makes a contribution – pre-tax benefits, such as Flexible Spending Accounts for health care, dependent care and commuting costs.

For every dollar a participant contributes to a pre-tax benefit plan, employers will save over seven cents because FICA taxes don’t need to be paid on these contributions. So, if an employee contributes $5,000 annually to one or more of these accounts, employers will save approximately $350 per employee that year in taxes as well.

And we’ve got even better news to share, signing up employees for pre-tax benefits is good for them too, since the benefits are exclusively designed to save them money.

Like it or not, we all face some combination of out-of-pocket health care, dependent care and/or commuter expenses so be sure to plan ahead and take advantage of the opportunity to save every employee up to 40 percent on these routine and often unavoidable expenses. But the key ingredient is an effective communication strategy, which can help ensure that the benefits are understood and valued. Studies show that these benefits are under-utilized because of a lack of understanding of how they work.