Employees are paying more for health care as insurers increase rates and employers pass more of those higher costs on to workers.
Employers nationwide estimate that the federal health care legislation will mean a 10 percent increase in premiums if they take no steps to renegotiate their coverage.
“About half of employers are not going to sit still with that, and they’re going to do something to bring it down,” said Beth Umland, head of research for Mercer’s health and benefits business.
Companies plan to use cost-cutting measures, such as switching insurers or raising deductibles, to reduce the average premium increase to 6 percent, according to a survey from consulting firm
Mercer LLC.
But some employees will take more than that 6 percent hit their employers are negotiating.
“Employers are not just passing along the extra dollars, but they’re increasing the actual dollar amount,” Umland said.
For example, instead of employees paying for 25 percent of the total cost of their now-more-expensive premium, employers could ask them to pay 28 percent, she said.
Nearly three out of every five employers Mercer surveyed said they will go that route in 2011.
Transferring more out-of-pocket costs to workers is a growing trend. Since 2005, workers’ contributions to premiums have climbed 47 percent while overall premiums rose 27 percent, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. – Liz Farmer
