By: David Murdock, J.R. Prewitt & Associates Life, Health and Group Benefits Consultant
Increasing healthcare costs impact both employees and employers. In fact, according to The New York Times, high-priced insurance plans are causing middle-class consumers to drop coverage altogether.
As mentioned in my previous blog, medical trends are the cause of these increasing costs. Medical trends are determined by health insurance companies monitoring the costs of visiting a physician, having lab work done and receiving other routine outpatient treatments. Price inflation, increased usage of medical care and services, leveraging effect of fixed deductibles and copays, cost shifting from the uninsured to private payers, government-mandated benefits, and technological advancements also influence medical trends.
