HEALTHCARE
Premium outlets If healthcare costs are busting your bottom line, what are some options to find relief?
By JESSE A. MILLARD
T
he average annual workplace family health premium Tilton, senior vice president of sales at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona. has been on the rise since the turn of the century. Many different fees have been added since the From 2001 to 2006, there was a 63 percent increase, it rose another 31 percent from 2006 to ACA started, ranging from reinsurance fees to fees 2011 and we got hit with another 20 percent increase placed on healthcare providers and manufacturers. The cost of healthcare has been rising, too. in the last five years, according to analysis from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, a non-partisan The market typically shows a medical cost trend increase by about nine percent annually, Tilton says. health foundation. Although the increase in insurance premiums have Tilton compares that rise in price to the most recent seen a slowdown in recent years — we can expect only a three percent premium increase, as reported by the Kaiser foundation. modest three percent rise this year, according to Kaiser — insurance is certainly not as affordable as it once was “Compared with the relative cost of healthcare in the for employers or employees. According to Kaiser, annual premiums for employer-sponsored family health coverage reached $18,142 this year, with workers on average paying $5,277 towards the cost of their coverage. Experts say rising insurance premiums can be pinned on many different causes. Some of the rising costs can be associated with fees added by the Affordable Care Act, as well as coverage expansion designated under the law, says Mike David Allazetta Ryan Schmid Kathy Steadman
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AB | November-December 2016