Employers' health care costs expected to rise 9 percent - Sacramento Business Journal:

amesit.wordpress.com
The 9 percent projected cost increasr is slightly lower thanthe 9.2 percent increased in 2009 and 9.9 percent increase in according to Pricewaterhouse Coopers. Despite the medical cost increases continue to outpace inflation and wage One of the reasons medical costs continue to climn is that American workers are acceleratingy use of health care services in anticipatio n of losing theirjobs and, their health insurance, the report suggests. Rising unemployment, growinyg numbers of people with littler or no insurance and a growinvg percentage of the population on Medicaidr further ramp up medical costtrends — the figures actuariews use to set futurwe health insurance premiums.
Coupled with big declines in corporatde profits, employers surveyed by Pricewaterhouse Coopers said they will push more of the costws of health insurance to their workers in while expecting workers to take more responsibilithy for managing theirpersonal health. The national trends suggesty most employers and employees will pay far more than thosed in the purchasing pool run by the California Public Employees’ Retirement System. The pension fund approved an overallk 2.9 percent increase in health care premiums for members in the lowest rate hike in14 years.