NEW YORK, Sept. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Costs for the most popular
types of health care coverage are projected to increase at double-digit
rates through the remainder of 2008 and into 2009, according to a national
survey of insurers and administrators.
These are among the results of a survey released today by Buck
Consultants, an ACS company and one of the world's leading human resource
and benefits consulting firms. The study analyzed responses from 79 health
insurers, HMOs and third-party administrators.
In its 19th National Health Care Trend Survey, Buck Consultants
measured the projected average annual increase in employer-provided health
care benefit costs. Insurers providing medical trends for the survey cover
a total of approximately 98.7 million people.
Costs for the most popular plans (see chart below) continue to increase
by more than 10 percent, and are slightly higher than the trends reported
in Buck's previous survey, conducted in late 2007.
Type of Plan Buck's National Health Care Trend
19th Survey 18th Survey Difference
Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) 11.1% 10.7% +0.4%
Point-of-service (POS) 10.8 10.5 +0.3
Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) 11.1 11.1 -
High Deductible Consumer Driven 10.7 10.4 +0.3
Health insurers reported an average prescription drug trend of 11.4
percent, down slightly from the 11.7 percent reported in the prior survey.
This is considerably higher than the 7.8 percent reported by pharmacy
benefit managers (who generally do not take any underwriting risk).
For plans that supplement Medicare, health insurers reported a
projected increase of 6.9 percent excluding prescription drug coverage.
This lower trend reflects the impact of federal controls on Medicare fees
and the lower increases expected in Medicare deductibles and copays.
The survey also reported trend factors for dental and vision plans.
"While trends have come down significantly since 2003, they still
remain stubbornly high," said Harvey Sobel, FSA, a Buck principal and
consulting actuary who directed the survey. "We are concerned that these
trends may not yet reflect the impact of recent inflationary increases,
which may put additional cost pressure on health care providers to raise
their fees."
Health insurers use trend factors to calculate premium rates, and large
self-funded employers use these trend factors to budget their future health
care costs. In general, trend factors provide for price increases that may
result from such variables as inflation, utilization of services,
technology, changes in the mix of services, and mandated benefits.
Buck Consultants, an ACS company, is a leader in human resource and
benefits consulting with more than 1,500 professionals worldwide. Founded
in 1916 to advise clients in establishing and funding some of the nation's
first public and private retirement programs, Buck is an innovator in the
areas of retirement benefits, health and welfare programs, human capital
management, and employee communication. News and other information about
Buck Consultants are available at http://www.buckconsultants.com. Buck is
an independent subsidiary of Affiliated Computer Services, Inc.
ACS, a global FORTUNE 500 company with 65,000 people supporting client
operations reaching more than 100 countries, provides business process
outsourcing and information technology solutions to world-class commercial
and government clients. The company's Class A common stock trades on the
New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "ACS." Learn more about ACS at
http://www.acs-inc.com.
Buck's 19th "National Health Care Trend Survey" is available to the
media by contacting Ed Gadowski at 201-902-2825. It is available to other
interested parties for $100 from Buck's Global Survey Resources, 500 Plaza
Drive, Secaucus, NJ, 07096-1533. Telephone 800-887-0509. It also can be
ordered online at http://www.bucksurveys.com.
SOURCE Affiliated Computer Services, Inc.
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Related links:
http://www.acs-inc.com
http://www.bucksurveys.com http://www.buckconsultants.com
CONTACT:
Ed Gadowski, Media Relations of Buck
Consultants, LLC, +1-201-902-2825,
Edward.gadowski@buckconsultants.com
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