Workers Aren’t Driving Employer Health Costs. 90 Percent of the Increase Came From Prices

Workers used just 2 percent more medical care, but employers paid nearly 19 percent more. New data reveals where the money went.

BY BRUCE CRUMLEY @BRUCEC_INC

Employers don’t need to be told their costs to fund staff medical insurance continue to surge—with rises they face this year alone estimated at between 8 percent and 11 percent. But a new analysis warns that business leaders shouldn’t be blaming workers for those hikes—90 percent of which are driven purely by healthcare sector actors boosting their prices.

That finding was the key lesson in the latest annual report by nonprofit research organization the Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI). Its analysis crunched data from 2019 and........

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