Health News
- Obesity Adds More Health-care Costs Than Smoking, Study Finds
Obesity costs the health care system more than smoking does, a new study has found. The annual health costs for someone who is obese average $1,850 more than for a person a normal weight. The excess costs were up to $5,500 per year for people who are...
- Hike In Health Insurance Premiums Due To Rising Health Costs, Not Reform Law, Factcheck.org Concludes
Health insurance premiums for employer-sponsored family plans shot up by 9 percent from 2010 to 2011, but the bulk of the hike is due to the increase in health care costs, not the federal health-care reform law, non-partisan FactCheck.org has found. ...
- New Survey Shows Dramatic Increase In Employer-sponsored Health Insurance Rates
The average cost of employer-sponsored health insurance has increased 9 percent for family coverage and 8 percent for individual coverage since last year, a new study by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research & Education Trust shows....
- Employers Will Have To Pay 8 Percent More For Employee Health Insurance Next Year
"Employers will likely face health-care cost increases of 8.5 percent in 2012, but they'll mitigate that burden by pushing more costs onto employees and making other changes to benefits," reports The Wall Street Journal's Katherine Hobson. All...
- Employers: Dropping Group Health Insurance Could Cost You
Looking ahead to 2015, many employers are deciding how to respond to the rising cost of employee group health insurance premiums. A study of employers by the large consulting group Mercer suggests that ?the per-employee health benefit cost will rise by...
Health News
For first time, annual health costs for families exceed $20,000
For the first time, the average annual costs of workplace-provided health insurance and other costs for a family of four has exceeded $20,000, a new study has found. Costs are $20,728 this year, an increase of $1,335 over 2011.
An average family will pay $5,114 in premiums for a preferred provider organization plan, plus $3,470 in out-of-pocket costs like co-pays and prescriptions, Jeffrey Young reports on The Huffington Post. The rest of the costs are paid by employers, according to the report released by Milliman, a firm that consults with companies on employee benefits.
"The rate of increase is not as high as in the past but total dollar increase was still a record," the report states. "The dollar amount of the increase overshadows any relief consumers might derive from the slowing percentage increase."
The report also found health-care costs vary among 14 metropolitan areas Milliman analyzed. Miami and New York City are most expensive where costs are 20 percent higher than the national average. Louisville and Lexington were not among the areas studied. (Read more)
An average family will pay $5,114 in premiums for a preferred provider organization plan, plus $3,470 in out-of-pocket costs like co-pays and prescriptions, Jeffrey Young reports on The Huffington Post. The rest of the costs are paid by employers, according to the report released by Milliman, a firm that consults with companies on employee benefits.
"The rate of increase is not as high as in the past but total dollar increase was still a record," the report states. "The dollar amount of the increase overshadows any relief consumers might derive from the slowing percentage increase."
The report also found health-care costs vary among 14 metropolitan areas Milliman analyzed. Miami and New York City are most expensive where costs are 20 percent higher than the national average. Louisville and Lexington were not among the areas studied. (Read more)
- Obesity Adds More Health-care Costs Than Smoking, Study Finds
Obesity costs the health care system more than smoking does, a new study has found. The annual health costs for someone who is obese average $1,850 more than for a person a normal weight. The excess costs were up to $5,500 per year for people who are...
- Hike In Health Insurance Premiums Due To Rising Health Costs, Not Reform Law, Factcheck.org Concludes
Health insurance premiums for employer-sponsored family plans shot up by 9 percent from 2010 to 2011, but the bulk of the hike is due to the increase in health care costs, not the federal health-care reform law, non-partisan FactCheck.org has found. ...
- New Survey Shows Dramatic Increase In Employer-sponsored Health Insurance Rates
The average cost of employer-sponsored health insurance has increased 9 percent for family coverage and 8 percent for individual coverage since last year, a new study by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research & Education Trust shows....
- Employers Will Have To Pay 8 Percent More For Employee Health Insurance Next Year
"Employers will likely face health-care cost increases of 8.5 percent in 2012, but they'll mitigate that burden by pushing more costs onto employees and making other changes to benefits," reports The Wall Street Journal's Katherine Hobson. All...
- Employers: Dropping Group Health Insurance Could Cost You
Looking ahead to 2015, many employers are deciding how to respond to the rising cost of employee group health insurance premiums. A study of employers by the large consulting group Mercer suggests that ?the per-employee health benefit cost will rise by...