Health care costs to rise in ‘08
Double-digit bump on the way, says employers survey
By Joyzelle Davis, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Friday, November 30, 2007
Coloradans’ health care costs will soar an average of 12.9 percent in 2008, outpacing the national average, forcing companies to shift costs to employees.
It’s the seventh consecutive year of double-digit increases in the state, according to a survey of Colorado employers conducted annually by Lockton Benefit Group.
The survey compares itself with national studies showing costs rising from 7 percent to 9 percent next year. The rate increases come even as Colorado often ranks among the healthiest states in terms of physical fitness and lower obesity rates.
"That’s one of the key questions - if you have a healthier population, why doesn’t that translate into lower health care costs?" said Bill Lindsay, president of Denver-based Lockton Benefit Group.
Colorado’s above-average increases make the state less attractive to employers, and the shift of costs to employers "place Colorado workers at a greater disadvantage in terms of higher deductibles, out-of-pocket expense and more significant premium cost- sharing than their counterparts nationally," he said. [Read the rest of this story]