Health cost inflation to ease in '04; Hewitt study projects a 12.6% average increase, down from recent years.(News)

Business Insurance, October, 2003

Byline: JERRY GEISEL Health care cost increases finally may be moderating. Next year, group health care costs are projected to rise by 12.6% on average, to $7,009 per employee, according to an analysis by benefit consultant Hewitt Associates Inc. This year, costs leaped an average of 14.7%, according to Lincolnshire, Ill.-based Hewitt.

Health maintenance organization costs increased the most, rising an average of 15.6%, to $6,018 per employee; while costs in preferred provider organizations climbed 14.5%, averaging $6,300 per employee; and point-of-service plan costs rose 14.1%, averaging $6,391. Hewitt's 2004 projection is based on a survey of budgets that employers have set and the health care premium increases they have received through the end of...

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