Mercer’s annual survey to find out what employers plan to do with their insurance coverage is out, and the consumer-directed health plan movement seems to be a big winner.

If employers kept employee medical plans in 2010 as they were in 2009, costs would rise by almost 9 percent, Mercer found.  That’s not happening in this economy. Employers are going to hold cost growth to 5.9 percent in 2010 by various cost-cutting strategies, including the reduction in benefits that come with CDHPs.

In a press release issued this morning, Mercer partner Linda Havlin says:

We’re expecting to see a real spike in 2010 in both the number of employers offering CDHPs and in the number of employees enrolling in them, as more employers become comfortable with the concept of offering a high-deductible, account-based plan as one choice or their only choice Employers see them as a way to provide more value to employees while at the same time managing cost.