Group Health Insurance Plans Cost More for 2011
November 2010
It's fall, when the weather cools down, leaves change color, and employees get to deal with one of their least favorite topics:
medical coverage.
And things aren't looking rosy for 2011. Costs will be going up again in 2011 for group health insurance, meaning that many employees will be shouldering the burden of higher deductibles or monthly costs.
Of course, medical coverage prices go up every year, but for the last 10 years or so the costs that employees pay for individual or
group health insurance have far outpaced medical inflation.
So why the disparity? Shouldn't employees be paying less?
Many people fear that the
healthcare bill is to blame for the rising costs of medical coverage, but analysts have found that this isn't the case. The majority of the mandates instituted by the healthcare bill don't start until 2014, and only about 1% of group health insurance plans could be significantly impacted by the bill at this time.
The problem lies in the sluggish economy, combined with the poor health of Americans and the rising costs of health care.
The economic downturn that has plagued American businesses since 2007 has made it difficult - if not impossible - for employers to pay for group health insurance. As business continues to dwindle, the burden of paying for medical coverage continues to land on employees.
Facts on:
Group Health Insurance
Did you know...
Many employers incentivize healthy behavior in their employees to lower medical coverage costs.
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And it doesn't help that medical costs keep going up. Insurance companies have long complained that it's the cost of medical care that has driven their prices up.
Finally, Americans have become famously unhealthy. This leads to higher medical costs for treatments and disease, and a resulting rise in health care costs
and insurance prices. Many employers have responded by incentivizing healthier lifestyles for employees with lower premiums or gift cards, but for many employers group health insurance costs are problematically linked to the health of their employees.
This is particularly relevant for small business owners, whose smaller list of employees means that overall group insurance rates are powerfully influenced by unhealthy employees.
Regardless, more and more often it isn't just those on the individual market suffering from the current economic crisis. When business feels the crunch everyone feels the crunch, including those employees who had hoped that group health insurance would cut their costs for medical care.
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