40% of Employers to Hike Health Plan Costs Next Year

Many Americans are happy with their employer-sponsored health care plans and eager to keep them, but they won't be keeping them at the current price, the Washington Post reports. In a survey released yesterday, some 40% of employers said they expect to increase the amount their employees paid for health care next year—raising premiums, deductibles, and the cost of prescription drugs. Some 9% said they expect to tighten eligibility for benefits. Another 8% intend to drop coverage entirely.

The report, which comes from the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust, concludes that federal action is necessary to bring costs under control. The Business Roundtable piled on, declaring yesterday that given current trends, employer health costs will rise 166% over the next decade, to $28,530 per employee. “Maintaining the status quo is simply not an option,” said Roundtable leader and Kodak CEO Antonio Perez. (More health care reform stories.)