Employees Expected to Share Health Insurance Costs

A new report from PricewaterhouseCoopers has articulated expectations that health care costs will rise next year for both employers and employees. With health insurance now mandatory in the US under new federal healthcare legislation, it has been widely expected that companies will face higher premiums for group health insurance plans, but a new report from PricewaterhouseCoopers has suggested that employers will ask their workers to share the burden of these costs.

The report suggests that health insurance deductibles – the amount employees will be asked to pay before insurance coverage comes into effect – will reach $400 for most employees every year. Last year, 43 per cent of employees had to pay more than $400, compared with just 25 per cent two years ago.

Overall, private medical insurance is expected to cost 9 per cent more next year, though employers are expected to pay some of these costs themselves. The increasing deductibles provide another means of keeping the costs of insurance down. A 9 per cent increase in health costs was also predicted in 2009, though the actual increase was just 5 per cent for family coverage and remained level for single insurance premiums .