[PEN-L:1465] RE: Health care question

["Fellows, Jeffrey" <jmf9@xxxxxxx>]

 ----------
From: michael perelman:

>>>Dave Richardson continues to supply us with the excellent reports.  This
one struck me as curious:

Rising health care costs over the past 20 years have hit employers
harder than employees, the Employee Benefit Research Institute says.
Despite rising health costs in the last two decades and despite the
increased use of cost sharing by employers, individuals are paying a
smaller percentage of total health care costs today than in the past. In

recent years, employers have controlled cost increases by moving workers

into managed care health plans, expanding utilization review for active
workers, increasing premium cost-sharing with workers, and scaling back
retiree health care plans. ... (Daily Labor Report, page A-10).

Does this suggest that the companies just dropped health care for the
less favored workers and have been eating a larger share of the cost for
the more favored employees?<<<<

Yes and no. The proportion of workers without company health care workers is
rising. However, the proportion that employers pay their remaining employees
is also decreasing. The unmentionable part of this is that the proportion
paid by the state is rising (Medicaid and Medicare). There may also be a
larger portion of free health care, since the percentage of persons unable
to pay, but not covered by Medicaid, is getting larger.

Jeff