Health InsuranceI just got my new statement for how much my new rates will be for health insurance for our employees at RustyBrick.

It just amazes me how much these prices go up so much every year. I do not mind paying more in quantities (i.e. add employees), but the rates have gone up tremendously in the past few years.

Health-Care Premiums Expected To Jump 8.7% in 2008, Study Says from the Wall Street Journal is a recent article on the crazy prices of health insurance. Here is a quote:

Health-care premiums of employers and their workers rose by more than twice the rate of inflation in 2007, and cost increases are expected to accelerate next year, with employees picking up a larger slice of the bill, according to a study released Monday by Hewitt Associates, a global human resources company.

It has been like this for the past several years. Insurance prices just keep going up.

Thing is, RustyBrick currently covers 100% of our employee's health insurance. We also provide a pretty good plan, PPO with a provider that is widely accepted here.

Besides for co-pays increasing, with deductibles, to try to lower the premiums, the WSJ says:

Employees are also likely to shoulder slightly more of the financial burden for their health-care next year. Hewitt predicts that employees on average will contribute $1,859, or 21.4%, toward premiums, compared with $1,690, or a contribution of 21.2%, this year. In 2003, employees paid 17% of the premium.

I have looked into "High Deductible Plans" but they aren't attractive. Yet, insurance is just for that, in case of emergencies. So maybe it is a good option. I still don't like it. This is what the WSJ said:

Hewitt's research also found that more than 20% of employers offer, or plan to offer, a high-deductible health plan with a tax-advantaged health savings account, or HSA, by the end of this year, and almost half are considering offering one at a future date. While just 3% of employees elected these plans last year, most companies anticipate that enrollment will grow to 20% in five years, according to Hewitt.

That just amazes me.

In any event, it is just going to get worse next year. I doubt prices will ever go down.

Who is to blame? I am told people abuse their plans and that is why premiums are so high.