According to a national survey of insurers and administrators, costs for the most popular types of healthcare coverage are projected to increase at double-digit rates through the remainder of 2008 and into 2009.
The study, conducted by Buck Consultants, an ACS company and human resource and benefits consulting firm, analyzed responses from 79 health insurers, HMOs and third-party administrators. Insurers who provided medical trends for the survey cover approximately 98.7 million people.
Analysts measured the projected average annual increase in employer-provided healthcare benefit costs and found that the most popular plans continue to increase by more than 10 percent, and are slightly higher than the trends reported in Buck's previous survey, conducted in late 2007.
A preliminary survey released earlier this month found that annual health benefit cost growth will ease in 2009. That survey, conducted by Mercer, indicated that health benefit costs will rise to 5.7 percent next year.
Buck's survey revealed that, on average, health insurers reported an average prescription drug trend of 11.4 percent, down slightly from the 11.7 percent reported in the prior survey. Pharmacy benefit managers reported a 7.8 percent prescription drug trend.
For plans that supplement Medicare, health insurers reported a projected increase of 6.9 percent, excluding prescription drug coverage. According to analysts, this lower trend reflects the impact of federal controls on Medicare fees and lower increases expected in Medicare deductibles and copays.
"While trends have come down significantly since 2003, they still remain stubbornly high," said Harvey Sobel, a Buck principal and consulting actuary who directed the survey. "We are concerned that these trends may not yet reflect the impact of recent inflationary increases, which may put additional cost pressure on health care providers to raise their fees."