Close Close
Popular Financial Topics Discover relevant content from across the suite of ALM legal publications From the Industry More content from ThinkAdvisor and select sponsors Investment Advisor Issue Gallery Read digital editions of Investment Advisor Magazine Tax Facts Get clear, current, and reliable answers to pressing tax questions
Luminaries Awards
ThinkAdvisor

Life Health > Health Insurance > Life Insurance Strategies

Milliman: Health Increases May Slow

X
Your article was successfully shared with the contacts you provided.

Group health renewal rates may rise 8.5% for health maintenance organization plans and 9.4% for preferred provider organization plans in 2009.

Researchers at Milliman Inc., Seattle, have published those figures in a summary of preliminary results from a carrier survey.

Milliman tries to get “apples to apples” comparison figures by asking participants to provide rates for an employer with a specific demographic profile and a specific set of plan benefits.

Rate increases peaked at about 16% in 2002, Milliman says.

The aging of the population and an increase in chronic conditions such as obesity continue to push costs higher, researchers say.

Factors helping to hold increases down include increasing consumer cost awareness and “an economic downturn that may leave less money available for discretionary care for some people,” according to Doug Proebsting, a Milliman analyst who helped write the survey report.


NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.