Workers Face Higher Health Care Costs

According to a new survey by the National Business Group on Health, large U.S. employers are planning to shift higher health care costs to workers next year, thanks largely to cost increases that are more than twice the rate of inflation.

Employers estimate their health care benefit cost will increase an average of 7.2 percent in 2012, which is slightly lower than this year's 7.4 percent average increase. However, it still outpaces economic growth and business conditions, putting many employers in a tough spot.

While employees brace for a bigger share of the benefits tab over the next year, employers look to cost-mitigating strategies like consumer driven health plans, cost sharing and wellness initiatives. The survey also found other changes in benefit programs as various components of the health care reform law take effect.

To help control increases and drive down costs to avoid the "Cadillac" tax, employers are planning to use a wider variety of cost-sharing strategies. More than half of the employers (53 percent) plan to increase the percentage that employees contribute to the premiums, while 39 percent plan to increase in-network deductibles. Twenty-three percent of employers plan to increase out-of-network deductibles, while 22 percent will increase out-of-pocket maximums next year.

The survey was based on responses from 83 of the nation's largest corporations, and was conducted in June 2011.