Health care costs are soaring. Blame insurers, drug companies — and your employer : NPR

Some 154 million people obtain health insurance through their employer – and many could see their increase in pay check deductions next year. Some will probably also see co-payments and other direct costs increase.

Jeff Chiu / AP

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Jeff Chiu / AP

The United States has the most expensive health care in the developed world. Now he is about to become even more expensive.

Some 154 million people obtain health insurance through their employer – and many could see their increase in pay check deductions next year, from 6% to 7% on average. Some will probably also see their directed costs increase as employers transmit state -of -the -art costs.

Indeed, employers will pay much more – almost 9% more per employee on average, for the same level of coverage – to provide health services to their workers. Even after having reduced or changed their health care services, employers face the highest increase in prices in 15 years, according to a new survey of more than 1,700 organizations by Mercer, a firm of benefits.

And 59% of these employers said they were planning to adopt these higher prices to their workers in the form of “cost reduction changes”, such as higher deductibles, COPAYS or other direct costs, such as prices for the filling of prescriptions.

“It’s almost a perfect storm that strikes employers right now,” said Larry Levitt, executive vice-president of health policy at KFF, a non-profit research organization on health policies.

“The price of health care is increasing faster than it has done for a long time,” he adds. “And generally, when an employer obtains a sharp increase in an insurer, the employer turns and tries to transmit part or all to his workers.”

The growing health benefits are at a time when consumers still feel the hang of wood in record inflation of the pandemic era and are generally uncomfortable as to the American economy. Although inflation has cooled considerably over the past two years, prices are starting to check, because many radical taxes from President Trump on imports come into force.

These torchlight costs also highlight a hidden truth in the aim of complaints on the Broken American Health System: for the majority of Americans under 65, their employers finally decide the quantity they pay for health insurance and medical care.

The employers themselves are at the mercy of entities that have even more market power: pharmaceutical companies, pharmacy services, hospitals and others have collectively increased access to medical care in the United States. Health insurers, some prisoners by gigantic for -profit conglomerates, often derive the blame for high costs of American health care – as demonstrated by the national rage and frustration against Unitedhealth Group, one of the largest companies in the world, after the head of his health insurance company was shot dead and killed last December.

But when it comes to determining how much Americans work to stay healthy, the male stops with employers. And now they plan to load much more.

“It’s a bit hidden, because [premium deductions are] Remove from your pay check and if you don’t pay special attention, it may not be easy, “says Levitt.” But your wages to take away. “”

Good and bad news on the reasons why prices are increasing

Some of the reasons for the rise in health care prices are actually good news. For example, pharmaceutical companies have developed cancer treatments and more efficient weight loss medicines – for which they can also charge more. And after several years when the Pandemic of COVID-19 and arrow inflation made many reluctant people to request non-urgent care, more people go to the doctor or other suppliers. But this increase in demand has also led to an increase in prices.

Other reasons have to do with loss of competition. Certain hospitals, doctors’ firms, insurance companies and other health system companies have merged or consolidated, often allowing the remaining companies to increase the prices of their services.

“What is missing in health care is: it is not a traditional free market. You do not have these competitive forces,” explains Sunit Patel, chief actuar to Mercer for health and benefits in the United States.

This is not the first time that employers have faced this problem: the costs they have paid to provide health care is high and they have increased for years.

Last year, the average US employer spent more than $ 19,000 per employee to offer family coverage while the employee launched $ 6,000, according to KFF. The total average family premium of $ 25,572 has increased by 52% in the last decade.

Beth Umland, director of health and social benefits of Mercer, says employers have tried to avoid transmitting all recent cost increases for employees, in part to try to retain workers during a limited labor market. But after years of high cost, she says: “I think something should give.”

Employers tend to consider health care benefits in the context of the total remuneration they pay to workers – which means that if they spend more in health care, they will probably spend less in traditional salary increase.

And while workers have tried methods to request salary increases, they generally have fewer possibilities to negotiate the prices that their employers have set for health care.

“In general for workers, it is sort of take it or leave it,” explains Levitt. “And they really don’t have much to take it.”