Large employers can expect healthcare costs to rise by about 6 percent in 2017, according to Kaiser Health News.
Here are five thoughts:
1. While 6 percent is moderate compared to historical rises — in the early 2000s, annual percentage increases reached double digits — it still outpaces recent gains in corporate profits.
2. Marketplace healthcare plans are raising prices to compensate for underestimating insurance costs in 2016, according to Larry Levitt, a senior vice president with the Kaiser Family Foundation.
3. Almost one in three companies cited new types of specialty drugs as a major cause of recent cost increases. These specialty drugs, which treat diseases like cancer or hepatitis C, can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
4. Employers are addressing this rise in healthcare cost through various measures, like decreasing coverage for workers' spouses and encouraging patients to visit hospitals with lower costs and fewer complications for expensive procedures (like fertility treatments and bariatric surgery).
5. Employees can expect a 5 percent increase to their premiums for 2017. By 2018, almost half of large companies are expected to charge additional fees to add a working spouse to an employee's plan.