Health Cost Increases Seen Continuing at Double-Digit Rates

6/8/2009

By Stephen Miller (Society for Human Resource Management)

Costs for the most popular types of health care coverage are projected to increase at double-digit rates through the remainder of 2009 and into 2010, according to a recent national survey of U.S. insurers and administrators conducted by Buck Consultants, an ACS company.
�Although our survey reveals a slight decrease in cost trends since our prior study, there are signs that we�re going into another cycle of high trends,� says Harvey Sobel, a Buck principal and consulting actuary who directed the survey. �Health insurers may increase costs in light of the continuing economic downturn and legislation such as mental health parity and the recent expansion of COBRA. They may also attempt to increase their prices prior to the implementation of national health care reform, including a new �public insurance option�.�
For its 20th National Health Care Trend Survey, Buck Consultants measured the projected average annual increase in employer-provided health care benefit costs, analyzing responses from more than 100 U.S. health insurers, health maintenance organizations and third-party administrators. Insurers providing medical cost trends for the survey cover a total of approximately 95 million people.
Costs for the most popular plans (see below) continue to increase by more than 10 percent but are slightly lower than the trends reported in Buck�s previous survey, released in September 2008.

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