Workers’ Health Insurance Woes Continue

A recent AP article that I read in Yahoo! highlights an issue of critical importance to employees throughout the country; namely, the cost of health insurance. The article points out that according to the Mercer consulting firm, nearly 59% are planning on cutting their own health care costs by passing along those costs to their employees in the form of higher copays, deductibles and out-of-pocket spending limits. According to the article:

The growth of health care costs has hovered at around 6 percent since 2005, according to Mercer. While that’s down from the double-digit growth in previous years, it’s still moving at a faster clip than inflation or workers wages.

“It’s not something to cheer about, especially since costs are getting passed on to employees,” said Blaine Bos, author of the survey.

The only good news here is that the nearly 6% increase in costs over the past several years is actually LOWER than it was in the earlier part of the decade, when double-digit increases were common.

Tags: health insurance, health insurance costs

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