HEALTH INSURANCE Costs for Employers Increased 9.2% in 2005

October 11, 2005 | Health insurance costs for businesses increased by 9.2% in 2005 -- the first single digit increase since 2000,

Health insurance costs for businesses increased by 9.2% in 2005 -- the first single digit increase since 2000, according to a report released on Monday by Hewitt Associates, the Washington Times reports (Higgins, Washington Times, 10/11). Health insurance costs for employers are expected to increase by 9.9% in 2006, according to the report (Belli, Houston Chronicle, 10/10). The report also found that employee contributions to health plans increased 65% from $877 per individual in 2002 to $1,444 in 2005. Hewitt researchers said employee contributions are expected to increase to $1,612 in 2006. According to the report, the slower growth in health care costs is attributable primarily to increased consumer awareness and financial responsibility as employers shift more costs to workers. Sasha Richmond, a senior health care consultant at Hewitt, said, "More employees are looking at health care expenses as their own money instead of something simply provided to them by employers." Gary Claxton, a vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation and director of the foundation's Healthcare Marketplace Project, said increases in health care costs still outpace general inflation and wage rates. "The rate of growth in these costs has come down in the last two years in our surveys, but it is still substantially high," Claxton said (Washington Times, 10/11)..