Employers plan to shift more health-care costs to workers, survey reports

[babylonsister]

Employers plan to shift more health-care costs to workers, survey reports


By David S. Hilzenrath
Friday, March 12, 2010


Most big employers plan to shift a larger share of health-care costs to their workers next year, according to a survey released Thursday.

Many say they may charge more to cover spouses, tighten eligibility standards for their health plans and dispense financial rewards or penalties based on the results of certain lab tests. At some companies, overweight employees could be excluded from the most desirable plans.

Meanwhile, employees at many companies can expect significantly higher premiums, deductibles and co-payments, according to the annual survey by the National Business Group on Health, a coalition of big employers, and Towers Watson, a consulting firm that advises companies on employee benefits.

"This shows that the constant, unrelenting increases in health-care costs are going to cost employees and their families more and more," said Helen Darling, president of the business group. Faced with rapidly rising medical expenses, "employers are going to have to do something," she said.

People who work for large corporations have some of the most stable and comprehensive medical coverage in the nation. They are insulated from insurance industry practices at the heart of the Washington health-care debate, such as having their policies rescinded after getting sick or being denied coverage based on preexisting conditions. However, the new survey is a reminder that even people who are satisfied with their insurance plans cannot count on a continuation of the status quo.

more...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/11/AR2010031100740.html

[RagAss]

1. First they came for the smokers........

[HughBeaumont]

2. Par for the course. Nothing they haven't been doing for the past 4 decades:

http://www.amazon.com/Great-Risk-Shift-Economic-Insecurity/dp/0195335341/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1268400962&sr=8-1

In The Great Risk Shift, Jacob S. Hacker lays bare our unsettling new economic climate, showing how it has come about, what it is doing to our families, and how we can fight back. Behind today's insecurity, he contends, is the Personal Responsibility Crusade, eagerly embraced by corporate leaders and politicians who speak of a nirvana of economic empowerment, or an "ownership society." But as Hacker reveals, the result has been quite different: a harsh new world of economic turmoil. Hacker brings into focus as never before the pressures that shifting financial risk onto consumers exerts on our pocketbooks and in our lives. Blending powerful human stories, analysis, and compelling ideas for reform, this remarkable volume will hit a nerve and serve as a rallying point in the struggle for economic security in an increasingly uncertain world.

[Delphinus]

4. That

Personal Responsibility Crusade fails in a lot of ways. What happens to those who have done all the right things yet still get sick or get cancer or have a heart attack? No, I think this all shows the system is broken and there's nothing, short of taking insurance companies out of the equation, and not making health care a profit driven industry, that will fix it.

[brewens]

3. At the blood center I work for we were told that the cost of our

plan went up last year and the company ate it. Our contribution stayed the same. I do not expect that to happen again. Now it's $70 a month for a pretty good $500 deductible plan. I'd be surprised if it's not bumped up to $100 a month. I'll still feel lucky with the way it's been going for others and that will still be affordable to me. I just hope it doesn't go up more than that, or at least not much more.

[Delphinus]

5. It's $90 for me

for a $5,000 deductible. Obviously, I don't see a doctor.

[mmonk]

6. Mine is over $800 a month with a $5450.00 deductable.

Are you young? Is it a single individual policy? Mine is a family policy. I had to move to this plan because my monthly premiums were getting too high to justify.

[brewens]

8. Single and 49. Like I said, I feel really lucky to be with a

company that still somehow has a reasonable policy. I still have almost never met my deductable so I'm lucky there too. I use one of those medical savings account and go to the doctor or dentist when I need to. Years where I don't see a doctor much, I've used the medical savings accout to buy a new pair of glasses so I don't lose the money.
I'm not one of those people that thinks my plan is just fine so just leave it alone. I know they aren't leaving it alone and it's just a matter of time before it gets jacked way up.

[mmonk]

13. Very good.

Yes, I'm afraid the costs will keep rising. I wish my income went up as much.

[notadmblnd]

7. we knew this is what they would do

they'll eventually dump us all. It is why we need a public option.

[Walk away]

9. I'm sorry to say this but until people with paid health care start feeling the pinch..

nothing is going to get done. And by that time it may be too late.

[Dappleganger]

12. You're probably right...

until the upper-middle class people have their almost freebies taken away, they'll never support reform.

[sinkingfeeling]

10. What choice do they have? If the insurance providers keep upping premiums every year, there will

only be fewer and fewer employers providing any insurance plans. That's the whole reason we must do something now.

[uponit7771]

11. ...and in other breaking news water is wet and KKKons are stupid