Thread: 63% of employers to shift some health cost to workers

63% of employers to shift some health cost to workers

September 11th, 2009, 6:00 am
by Jan Norman, small-business columnist

Most businesses that offer employee health insurance will ask workers to pay more of the cost in 2010 because of the recession, says Mercer, a global benefits consultant.

80% of survey respondents said their businesses had been affected by the recession.

Here’s the breakdown of preliminary results of the Mercer National Survey of Employer Sponsored Health Plans 2009. The total is greater than 100% because some companies are taking several actions (Click on image for a larger view):

But companies aren’t shifting all the cost increase on to workers. Here are other actions they say they will take:

The cost of employee medical plans is set to increase 9% for 2010, but with cost saving and shifting, the overall cost growth will be 5.9%, Mercer says.

“Employers have had to work harder than usual to keep the health benefit cost increase for 2010 down,â€

My Union Insurance costs $11.98 an hour. A minimum average of 200 hours a quarter must be worked to qualify. Participation is mandatory, I can NOT opt out. There have been more than a few times I have been dropped from coverage and several times I worked fewer than 200 hrs and got absolutely nothing for the contributions with-held.