Mercer: Group Health Increases Have Slowed

NU Online News Service, Nov. 22, 2004, 9:27 a.m. EST

A major benefits consulting firm says the average cost of group health coverage at large, midsize and medium-small employers rose 7.5% this year, to $6,679.[@@]

Mercer Human Resource Consulting L.L.C., New York, has published a survey report that confirms projections of a rate increase slowdown made in late 2003 by other organizations. The other organizations predicted that moves to higher co-payments, higher coinsurance rates, and programs that combine high-deductible health coverage with personal health accounts probably would bring the health coverage inflation rate down into the single digits.