zimv20
Sep 10, 2003, 08:37 PM
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/10/business/10CARE.html?pagewanted=print&position=
September 10, 2003
Employees Pay 48% More for Company Health Plans
By MILT FREUDENHEIM
eople in employer-sponsored health plans are paying 48 percent more out of their own pockets for care than they did three years ago, according to an authoritative new study, and the cost will be even higher next year.
Almost two-thirds of large employers raised the amounts that employees are contributing to the cost of their health plans this year, and 79 percent say they will do so again in 2004, according to the study, by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust.
Other health care experts are projecting that 2004 will be the fourth straight year of double-digit increases in health insurance premiums.
The steady climb in costs has made health care benefits a hot issue in labor negotiations this year, and it has put pressure on Congress to reach agreement on adding a drug benefit to Medicare. The sponsors of the study said yesterday that health care costs were also a significant drag on the economy.
"Workers pay substantially more, companies raise prices and they hire fewer people," said Drew Altman, president of the Kaiser Family Foundation, which specializes in health care issues.
Out-of-pocket spending for insurance premiums, deductibles and drug co-payments rose to $2,790 this year for a typical employee with family coverage, from $1,890 in 2000, Mr. Altman said.
Over all, according to the Kaiser study, health care premiums rose 13.9 percent this year, the biggest increase since 1990, outpacing the 11 percent rise in spending for hospitals and doctors, and far ahead of the 2.4 percent increase in manufacturers' prices. The increase was 15.6 percent for small employers with fewer than 300 workers.
Health care economists say that the rising costs reflect advances in drugs and health care technology and a loosening of managed care restraints during the prosperous 1990's.
Employers still pay the bulk of the costs — typically at least 75 percent. But the study found that most employers are shifting more costs to workers, in hopes of lowering the expense by discouraging heavy use of doctors, hospitals and prescription drugs.
Deductibles and co-payments for hospital care, which were uncommon only a few years ago, were required by 4 in 10 plans this year, the study found, and higher co-payments for expensive prescription drugs have been widely adopted.
"Given the state of the economy and the rapid rate of inflation, I don't think we have seen the worst of increased cost-sharing with employees," said Jon Gabel, vice president of the Health Research and Educational Trust, a nonprofit group based in Washington. The study is based on the responses of 928 employers to a survey about their health care spending.
(more)
September 10, 2003
Employees Pay 48% More for Company Health Plans
By MILT FREUDENHEIM
eople in employer-sponsored health plans are paying 48 percent more out of their own pockets for care than they did three years ago, according to an authoritative new study, and the cost will be even higher next year.
Almost two-thirds of large employers raised the amounts that employees are contributing to the cost of their health plans this year, and 79 percent say they will do so again in 2004, according to the study, by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust.
Other health care experts are projecting that 2004 will be the fourth straight year of double-digit increases in health insurance premiums.
The steady climb in costs has made health care benefits a hot issue in labor negotiations this year, and it has put pressure on Congress to reach agreement on adding a drug benefit to Medicare. The sponsors of the study said yesterday that health care costs were also a significant drag on the economy.
"Workers pay substantially more, companies raise prices and they hire fewer people," said Drew Altman, president of the Kaiser Family Foundation, which specializes in health care issues.
Out-of-pocket spending for insurance premiums, deductibles and drug co-payments rose to $2,790 this year for a typical employee with family coverage, from $1,890 in 2000, Mr. Altman said.
Over all, according to the Kaiser study, health care premiums rose 13.9 percent this year, the biggest increase since 1990, outpacing the 11 percent rise in spending for hospitals and doctors, and far ahead of the 2.4 percent increase in manufacturers' prices. The increase was 15.6 percent for small employers with fewer than 300 workers.
Health care economists say that the rising costs reflect advances in drugs and health care technology and a loosening of managed care restraints during the prosperous 1990's.
Employers still pay the bulk of the costs — typically at least 75 percent. But the study found that most employers are shifting more costs to workers, in hopes of lowering the expense by discouraging heavy use of doctors, hospitals and prescription drugs.
Deductibles and co-payments for hospital care, which were uncommon only a few years ago, were required by 4 in 10 plans this year, the study found, and higher co-payments for expensive prescription drugs have been widely adopted.
"Given the state of the economy and the rapid rate of inflation, I don't think we have seen the worst of increased cost-sharing with employees," said Jon Gabel, vice president of the Health Research and Educational Trust, a nonprofit group based in Washington. The study is based on the responses of 928 employers to a survey about their health care spending.
(more)
