costs Archives - Mediarabe

New Data Shows Health Care Policy and Costs Top of Mind for Consumers Leading Up to 2020 Presidential Election

October 14, 2020

Sapphire Digital Survey Reveals Consumers’ View of Health Care Price Transparency and How Health Care Policy Will Influence Their Vote

Sapphire Digital, a leader in empowering consumers to make better choices that deliver health care savings, today announced survey results assessing consumer views on the health care system and health care policy leading up to the 2020 presidential election. The findings reveal health care policy will influence 79% of U.S. adults’ votes in the election, with 50% of those consumers reporting health policy will most influence or heavily influence their votes compared to other policy issues. Additionally, more than one-third (34%) of adults surveyed report they would like to see both presidential candidates prioritize lowering care costs leading up to the election.

For years, health care costs have been on the rise and the recent financial impact of COVID-19 has made cost concerns even more prominent. With consumers looking to

Companies Face Uncertain Health Costs as Employees Defer Treatments

October 11, 2020

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People are deferring many routine medical treatments during the coronavirus pandemic, creating unexpected savings for some employers, while making it harder for companies to forecast health-benefit costs in the year ahead.

As U.S. companies prepare to open their enrollment periods for health-care plans, many are uncertain about how much medical care their employees will consume in the year ahead. Health benefits typically account for a large portion of a company’s personnel costs.

Health-benefits costs for global companies that are insured—meaning they purchase a policy to cover their employees’ health-care claims—are expected to rise by 8.1% in the 2021 calendar year over this year, as people rebook medical appointments they postponed, according to a report published earlier this week by advisory firm Willis

Towers Watson.

By comparison, health-care costs are expected to rise 5.9% this year from a year earlier, the report said. The projections are based on responses from

Job-Based Health Insurance Costs Are Up 4% This Year, 55% in Past Decade

October 10, 2020

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Health insurance costs for Americans who get their coverage through work continued a relentless march upward with average family premiums rising 4% to $21,342 this year, according to a study published Thursday.

The annual survey by KFF found workers on average are paying nearly $5,600 this year toward family coverage, up from about $4,000 in 2010 and $1,600 in 2000. (KHN is an editorially independent program of KFF.)

While health insurance costs rose a modest amount in 2020, as has been the trend in recent years, they soared 55% in the past decade — more than twice the pace of inflation and wages.

(KFF)

About 157 million Americans rely on employer-sponsored coverage — far more than any other type of coverage, including Medicare, Medicaid and individually purchased insurance on the Affordable Care Act exchanges. More than half of employers provide insurance to at least some workers.

“Conducted partly before the

Workers With Health Insurance Face Rising Out-of-Pocket Costs

October 8, 2020

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The high cost of health care is persisting during the pandemic, even for people lucky enough to still have job-based insurance.

The average annual cost of a health plan covering a family rose to $21,342 in 2020, according to the latest survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonprofit group that tracks employer-based coverage. Workers paid about a quarter of the total premiums, or $5,588, on average, with their employers picking up the rest of the cost.

An analysis of the results was published Thursday online in Heath Affairs, an academic journal. While premiums rose only slightly from the 2019 survey, the increase in premiums and deductibles together over the last decade has far outpaced both inflation and the growth in workers’ earnings. Since 2010, premiums have climbed 55 percent, more than double the rise in wages or inflation, according to the foundation’s analysis.

About 157 million Americans had coverage

Health Coverage Costs Continued Steady Rise Pre-Pandemic

October 8, 2020

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The average cost of employer health coverage surpassed $21,000 for a family plan this year, according to a new survey, a rise reflecting rates calculated before the pandemic upended normal patterns of medical care.

Annual premiums rose 4% to hit $21,342 for an employer-provided family plan in 2020, up from $20,576 last year, according to the yearly poll of employers conducted by the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation. On average, employees paid $5,588 of the total this year, with the rest of the cost borne by the employers. The amount of the employee contribution was statistically unchanged from 2019.

The average cost of an employer health plan for an individual for 2020 was $7,470, also up about 4% from last year.

The Kaiser survey also found that employers were tapping the brakes on deductibles, which have risen steadily over the past decade. The average 2020 general deductible for individual-worker coverage was

Evernorth Continues Work to Reduce Costs and Improve Health With Expanded and Innovative Digital Health Formulary Platform

October 7, 2020

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BLOOMFIELD, Conn., Oct. 7, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Evernorth, Cigna Corporation’s health services segment, is expanding its industry-first Digital Health Formulary with the goal of making it easier for customers and patients, employers, and health plans to navigate the crowded digital health landscape. By evaluating and supporting proven digital health innovations, Evernorth is helping people address their most pressing health care needs faster and more effectively – resulting in improved engagement and better health outcomes at lower costs.

“Today we are announcing the expansion of our ground-breaking Digital Health Formulary to better help people achieve their health goals – whether it is planning a family, managing muscle and joint pain, quitting tobacco products, and even coping with the stress of being a caregiver,” said Tim Wentworth, chief executive officer of Evernorth. “We know how confusing, costly, and time consuming it can be for people to choose which digital health

Health Benefit Costs Seen Rising 8.1% in 2021

October 6, 2020

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Employer-sponsored health care benefit costs are expected to increase more than 8% globally next year as workers get treatment they had deferred due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to a Willis Towers Watson report.

Amid the pandemic, the consulting firm’s 2021 Global Medical Trends Survey found medical insurers project growth in benefit costs will slow this year to 5.9% after a 7.2% gain in 2019.

But for 2021, they forecast 8.1% growth, with North America gaining 7.1% after a 2.8% increase in 2020.

The study also found that 67% of respondents expect medical costs will continue to accelerate over the next three years.

“The pandemic undoubtedly had a major impact on slowing trend increases this year as it sparked a sharp decline in non-urgent surgeries and elective care,” Francis Coleman, a managing director at Willis Towers, said in a news release. “While most, but not all, countries experienced a decrease

Employers’ health benefits costs expected to grow, but most won’t take cost-saving measures

October 5, 2020

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Despite the expected increase of employer’s health benefits costs in 2021, most companies do not plan on taking cost-savings measures, according to early results from Mercer’s National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans 2020.

The survey, which included over 1,000 employer responses since early July, estimates that the health benefits cost for employers will increase by 4.4% for 2021.

This increase follows the upward trend of annual change in health benefit costs since 2019, however, it is still outgrowing the Consumer Price Index and employee wage growth, which have fallen to nearly zero, according to Mercer.

Mercer’s full survey results are expected to be released in November, the company said.

WHAT’S THE IMPACT

When developing their health plans, employers have to consider a variety of factors for the upcoming year according to Tracy Watts, a senior consultant at Mercer.

“Different assumptions about cost for COVID-related care, including a possible vaccine, and

How much health insurance costs a family with no job

October 5, 2020

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Justin McCurry retired in 2013. He and his wife decided at the beginning of their marriage that they wanted to quit working while they were young.

So the couple ran some calculations, made a budget and set out to save 50% to 80% of their income every month. After about 10 years, McCurry was 33 years old and the couple had saved the nearly $1.3 million he estimated they needed to retire.

McCurry left his job as an engineer, and his wife retired from her career as a financial analyst not long after. Leaving their employers meant that the couple needed a way to provide health insurance for themselves and their three children.

The average health insurance plan costs nearly $5,500 per year for an individual and close to $14,000 for a family, according to a 2020 study by eHealth.

Living on a fixed income, McCurry hoped to pay much

Here are costs Medicare beneficiaries may face for Covid-19 treatment

October 2, 2020

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Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

With 74-year-old President Donald Trump testing positive for Covid-19, Medicare beneficiaries may be reminded of their own vulnerability.

For the 62.7 million people enrolled in Medicare — the majority of whom are age 65 or older — the coronavirus generally poses a greater health risk. While Congress and regulators have nixed out-of-pocket outlays for testing, the potential cost of treating the virus may pose a greater concern, due to the greater likelihood of individuals in that age group developing complications from the virus.

In the U.S., the pandemic has resulted in more than 7.28 million cases and nearly 208,000 deaths. Among Medicare beneficiaries, there have been more than 1 million cases this year through Aug. 15, according to preliminary data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid.

More than 284,000 of those involved hospitalizations. Almost half (49%) of those stays lasted one to seven days,

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