For most employers, increasing healthcare costs are too much to shoulder and, as a result, they’re passing more of the burden onto their employees.
A majority of companies say they plan to shift more healthcare costs to employees in 2011 — according to a recent Aon Consulting study.
The study found that:
- 65% of employers plan to bump up cost-sharing by increasing employees’ deductibles, co-pays, co-insurance or out-of-pocket limits, and
- 57% of employers expect to increase the portion of healthcare premiums paid by employees.
In response to how much their healthcare plans went up:
- Around 34% of employers said costs went up at least 5% — but less than 10%
- 24% of employers said their healthcare increases were less than 5%
- 18% of employers said costs increased at least 10% — but less than 15%, and
- 5% of companies said increases were at least 15% — but less than 20%.
If you have to increase employees’ healthcare costs significantly, showing them just how much your company’s overall costs went up may help to lessen the blow.