Drew Altman writes on increasing deductible costs, “which are transforming the nature of health insurance from more comprehensive coverage to skimpier insurance with higher out-of-pocket costs.”
Bob Herman writes for Modern Healthcare about the consequences of shifting more out-of-pocket healthcare expenses to employees.
As the cost of providing employees with healthcare benefits rises (at an average of $500 per employee this year), many employers are choosing to push those costs onto employees in order to maintain budgets.
Amanda Eisenberg from Benefits News takes a look at how increases in employee healthcare (5-10% for many employees) is causing a shift to more self-funding.
Image: Rand
Anna Louie Sussman of The Wall Street Journal focuses on how middle class workers are struggling to pay for healthcare in a time when wages are stagnant, employers are cost-shifting, and deductibles are on the rise.
Michael Z. Stahl recently wrote for Forbes, “a 2014 survey by the National Small Business Association found that small employers spend an average of 13 hours or $1,274 a month just to keep up with Affordable Care Act compliance.”
In this article by Kevin Mattson and Maria Carriedo-Ceniceros for the San Diego Tribune, the authors estimate that there will be a shortage of 90,000 primary care doctors in the next five years. Unfortunately CHCs bear the brunt of this issue and face recruitment/retention issues due to the populations they serve and “lower salaries compared to private hospitals and health systems.”
Employee engagement and happiness is key to retaining and attracting top talent, but the elusive question remains: What makes employees happy? Benefits such as a health plan can improve workplace morale, along with many other factors.
Erin Mershon wrote in the Washington Health Policy Week in Review, "large employers are expecting employee health benefit costs to rise by five percent in 2017, less than half the increase expected for consumers who purchase health care on the public exchanges created by the 2010 health law."
