As health care costs continue to increase, employers are looking for ways to cut costs, such as reducing spouse and dependent coverage in 2013, says a study out today.

While the total cost of health care is predicted to rise 5.3%, to $11,507 per employee in 2013, the increase is slowing, says the new Towers Watson survey of 440 midsize and large companies. This year, in comparison, the cost is expected to increase 5.9%.

"Recently employers have been increasing employee premiums, although they can only push the envelope so far," says Paul Fronstin, director of the Health Research Program at the Employee Benefit Research Institute. If healthy workers drop out of the plan, self-insured employers might lose money, he says.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Children • Health & Medicine • --The 2009 American Health Care Reform Debate • Law & Legal Issues • Marriage & Family • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Corporations/Corporate Life • Labor/Labor Unions/Labor Market

1. Br. Michael wrote: I thought that health care was supposed to be free?  Isn’t that the purpose of Obamacare?  After all I hear the word free all the time. August 28, 9:21 am | [comment link]

2. Cennydd13 wrote: Yep, it’s supposed to be “free,” alright, but it’s what you’ll get only for so long as your tax dollars can be stretched in order to pay for it.  So it really isn’t free after all, is it? August 29, 2:16 pm | [comment link]

3. dwstroudmd+ wrote: Default, pay the “penalty” and save money - that is the future.  Then there will be one provider for all - the government.  It will be just as efficiently inept in this as in all things: energy, transportation, job formation ... August 29, 9:54 pm | [comment link]

Registered members must log in to comment.