Benefits December 18, 2001

Healthcare Costs To Rise Faster in 2002

December 18, 2001 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Healthcare costs for employers will continue to increase at a faster rate, according to a new survey conducted to determine next year's increases in healthcare costs.
Reported by

Buck Consultants’ seventh National Health Care Trend Survey saw insurers reporting the following medical trends for the most common plans: 

  • the cost of Indemnity plans is expected to increase by 17%, compared to 16.2% in the previous survey,
  • the cost Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) plans, is forecast to go up by 14.9%, compared to 14%,
  • for Point-of-service (POS) plans, are projected to increase by 14%, compared to 12.3% in the previous survey,
  • respondents expect the costs of Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) plans to increase by 13%, compared to an 11.5% increase the previous year,

In fact, the only category of health expenditure not projected to increase at a greater rate in 2002 is prescription drug card programs – where only an 18.4% rate of increase is anticipated, compared to a 20% increase in the previous survey.

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The survey comprised responses from over 90 health insurers, HMOs and third-party administrators.


 

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