Employer health care costs will increase about 6% in 2010, Hewitt Associates Inc. predicts.
The rate of increase will be about the same as it has been this year and was in 2008, according to Hewitt, Lincolnshire, Ill.
Hewitt gets health cost figures by analyzing data from 1,700 U.S. health plans, including plans at 325 large employers.
Hewitt estimates large employers will spend an average of $9,120 on health premiums per employee in 2010, up from $8,607 this year.
Employees' own health premium costs probably will rise about 10%, Hewitt says. The firm expects employers to ask employees to contribute an average of $2,085 each, or 23% of the cost of the total premium.
This year, employees have been contributing an average of $1,890 each, or 22% of the total premium.
Average employee out-of-pocket costs for items such as co-payments, coinsurance and deductibles will increase 10%, to $1,938, Hewitt says.
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