Health premiums jump 15%
Workers face higher co-payments too
By Bruce Japsen
Tribune staff reporter
Published October 10, 2004
Health-care premiums will surge at least 15 percent next year, more than triple the average worker's pay raise.
Co-pays for hospital stays or prescription drugs are going up too.
Employees nationwide are getting their first glimpse of rate hikes in store for 2005 as they enter the fall open enrollment period, the time when workers sign up for benefits or choose among insurance plans.
What they'll see might make even the most hardy individual feel a bit sick: Individual employees on average will pay $1,481 in 2005, more than double what they paid five years ago, according to projections by Lincolnshire-based Hewitt Associates. Those numbers are a bit higher for Chicago workers, who will see their average contribution increase to $1,540 from $1,339 this year.
Employer costs for health-care coverage also are rising fast, some 11.3 percent in 2005. Rest of the article HERE
Workers face higher co-payments too
By Bruce Japsen
Tribune staff reporter
Published October 10, 2004
Health-care premiums will surge at least 15 percent next year, more than triple the average worker's pay raise.
Co-pays for hospital stays or prescription drugs are going up too.
Employees nationwide are getting their first glimpse of rate hikes in store for 2005 as they enter the fall open enrollment period, the time when workers sign up for benefits or choose among insurance plans.
What they'll see might make even the most hardy individual feel a bit sick: Individual employees on average will pay $1,481 in 2005, more than double what they paid five years ago, according to projections by Lincolnshire-based Hewitt Associates. Those numbers are a bit higher for Chicago workers, who will see their average contribution increase to $1,540 from $1,339 this year.
Employer costs for health-care coverage also are rising fast, some 11.3 percent in 2005. Rest of the article HERE
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