Study says health-care costs shift to workers

<p>Amid high unemployment and a weak economy, employers have been shifting health care costs to workers, according to a study released Thursday.</p><p>The premiums that employees pay for employer-sponsored family coverage rose an average of 13.7 percent this year, while the amount that employers contribute fell by 0.9 percent, the survey found.</p><p>For family coverage, workers are paying an average of $3,997, up $482 from last year, while employers are paying an average of $9,773, down $87, according to the survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research &amp; Educational Trust.</p><p>With so many people out of work, employees have little power to demand a better deal, the organizations said.</p><p>Overall, premiums for employer-sponsored coverage -- the amounts paid by employer and employee combined -- rose an average of 3 percent for family coverage and 5 percent for single coverage, the survey found. That was modest by historical standards. But the costs fell disproportionately on employees.</p><p>Workers with health benefits are paying an average of 30 percent of the premium for family coverage and 19 percent of the premium for single coverage this year, the highest in 12 years of surveys by the two organizations. Last year, workers were paying an average of 27 percent of the premium for family coverage and 17 percent for single coverage.</p><p>Premiums for single coverage rose an average of $225, and employees bore more than half of the increase.</p><p>Since 2005, employees' premium payments have gone up 47 percent while overall premiums have risen 27 percent. Over the same period, wages have increased 18 percent and the consumer price index has risen 12 percent.</p><p>-- the amounts employees pay for medical services in co-payments, deductibles and the like.</p><p>Increasingly, employers are offering insurance plans with high deductibles. Twenty-seven percent of employees with health benefits now face annual deductibles of at least $1,000, up from 22 percent last year, the organizations said.</p><p>The Kaiser Family Foundation, which is not affiliated with the Kaiser Permanente health plan, conducts research on health issues. The Health Research &amp; Educational Trust is an affiliate of the American Hospital Association.</p><p>The survey, which covered public and private employers with three or more workers, was conducted by phone from January through May.</p>