Employers predict big increases in health care costs

Reuters: Employees Beware: Higher Health Care Costs Ahead
Large employers expect big increases in health care costs in 2012, and say they'll pass more and more of those costs on to their workers. That's the result of a new survey by the National Business Group on Health, a trade group for these large companies. "It's a huge burden on businesses and employers," says Helen Darling, the group's president. "Health care costs continue to gallop along at over seven percent." Members say they expect their 2012 costs to be 7.2 percent above their 2011 costs, which are trending 7.4 percent above 2010 costs (Stern, 8/18).

Kaiser Health News' Capsules: Employers: Health Plans Will Take Bigger Bite Out Of Next Year's Paychecks
Expect to pay more for your job-based health care coverage next year, as employers continue a trend of passing along rising costs to workers. Fifty-three percent of large employers surveyed by the National Business Group on Health said they would increase the amount workers pay toward their premiums next year, although most said the rise would be less than 10 percent. Thirty-nine percent of the 83 firms surveyed said they would increase deductibles for in-network care (Appleby, 8/18).

CQ HealthBeat: Big Employers Expect 7 Percent Premium Hike Next Year
Large employers expect their health benefit costs to rise 7.2 percent next year, with nearly two-thirds saying they will increase the portion of premium costs their employees will have to pay. "That is slightly lower than this year's 7.4 percent average increase, but it is on a higher base and it still outpaces the economy's anemic growth and business conditions," said the National Business Group on Health (NBGH), which sponsored a survey that developed the forecast (Reichard, 8/18).

Modern Healthcare: Employers Expect Health Costs To Rise: Survey
Many of the nation's largest employers expect their health care costs to rise by an average of 7.2 percent next year, despite their increasing use of a variety of cost-control measures, according to a National Business Group on Health survey released today. Next year's expected increase is slightly less than the mean rise of 7.4 percent in health care costs that those companies reported for this year, although the coming increase is greater in absolute dollars, according to Helen Darling, president and CEO of the NBGH (Daly, 8/18).