Apples for Health- Survey: Worker insurance costs, usage up

Survey: Worker insurance costs, usage up

BROOKFIELD, Wis., April 17 (UPI) -- A new study shows U.S. workers are using their health benefits more as their share of the premium costs go up.

The International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans in Wisconsin said Friday that more than one-third of insurance plan sponsors say they will be raising their employee premiums or their employee deductibles and co-payments, although only 3.6 percent said they were dropping their insurance plans altogether.

At the same time, about a third of plan sponsors reported their employees utilizing insurance more often to fill prescriptions and undergo medical procedures, apparently at least in part because they are concerned they could lose their jobs and their benefits in the near future.

Another one-fifth of plan sponsors said the higher out-of-pocket costs had resulted in employees skipping medical treatment or discontinuing medications.

"Plan participants are feeling anxious about the possibility of increased cost-sharing and a reduction in benefits due to the financial crisis," Sally Natchek, senior director of research for the International Foundation," said in a written statement. "These fears are not unfounded."

Natchek added that a whopping 85-percent of the respondents agreed the current turmoil in health insurance would make it easier for Washington to pass healthcare reform measures.

The survey of an unspecified number of IFEBP members was conducted March 30-April 6. The respondents included corporate plan sponsors as well as public-government plans and multi-employer benefit funds.