Employers' health care costs expected to rise 9 percent - Birmingham Business Journal:

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The 9 percent projected cost increase is slightly lowe r thanthe 9.2 percen increase in 2009 and 9.9 percen increase in 2008, according to Pricewaterhouse Coopers. Despit e the slowdown, medical cost increasezs continue to outpace inflation and wage One of the reasons medical costs continue to climb is that American worker s are accelerating use of health care service in anticipation of losing theirjobs and, potentially, their health insurance, the report suggests.
Rising unemployment, growing numbers of people with littler or no insurance and a growing percentage of the populationj on Medicaid further ramp up medical cost trends the figures actuaries use to set futurse healthinsurance premiums. Coupled with big decline s in corporate profits, employers surveyexd by Pricewaterhouse Coopers said they will push more of the cost s of health insurance to their workers in while expecting workers to take more responsibilit y for managing theirpersonal health. The national trends suggest most employers and employees will pay far more than thosre in the purchasing pool run by the CaliforniaPublivc Employees’ Retirement System.
The pension fund approved an overallp 2.9 percent increase in health care premiumz for membersin 2010, the lowest rate hike in 14