U.S. companies will pay an average of 9.9 percent more for workers’ health insurance next year, almost doubling the average employee cost of five years ago, according to a survey by Hewitt Associates released Monday.
The anticipated 2006 increase is greater than this year’s gain of 9.2 percent, said Hewitt, a benefits consulting firm.
Employers’ average medical expense for each worker will be $8,046 next year, almost double what it was in 2000, the survey found.
“This is a wake-up call that we can’t count on premium trends to decline,” said Paul Ginsburg, an economist and president of the nonpartisan Center for Studying Health System Change in Washington.
The survey’s predicted rate of growth is lower than a preliminary estimate of 12.6 percent for 2006 released by Hewitt in August. The survey is based on an analysis of more than 2,000 health plans covering more than 18 million people.
