HMO rates should see an average increase of about 11.7 percent for 2007, down from initial increases of 12.4 percent in 2006 and 13.7 percent in 2005, according to preliminary data from Hewitt Associates, an HR services company.
The number of enrollees and dependents covered by a consumer-directed health plan (CDHP) increased from 3 million in 2005 to between 5 and 6 million in 2006, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report.
Healthcare costs for HMOs are expected to increase by 12.2 percent in the next 12 months, down from a 13.2-percent forecast of one year ago, according to a survey by Aon Consulting.
Employers that are best at controlling healthcare costs are more likely to offer Internet tools that help employees make provider-quality comparisons and provider-pricing comparisons, according to a study by Watson Wyatt and the National Business Group on Health.
The percentage of workers who accepted their employer's offer of healthcare insurance dropped from 85.3 percent in 1998 to 80.3 percent in 2003, according to a study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Massachusetts broke new ground when Governor Mitt Romney signed a health care reform that aims to cover most of the state's uninsured population over the next three years. House Bill 4850 aims to cover most of the state's uninsured population over the next three years. If it works, the plan is expected to cover 515,000 of the state's uninsured population within three years, which is about 95 percent of the total uninsured.
The Massachusetts legislature has approved legislation that would provide health insurance to almost all of the state's population, the New York Times reports.
Employers expect healthcare benefit costs to increase a median 8 percent this year and next year, down from the 10 percent increase they expected in 2005, according to a survey conducted by Watson Wyatt Worldwide and the National Business Group on Health.
Lawmakers in Maryland have overrode a governor's veto and passed legislation that requires for-profit employers with more than 10,000 employees to spend at least 8 percent of payroll on healthcare benefits for employees or pay the difference into the state's health program for low-income families, USA Today reports.
The AFL-CIO says lawmakers in 30 states are preparing to submit legislation that would require large private employers to devote at least 8 percent of their payroll to health insurance or contribute to a state health program, the New York Times reports.
