Check Those Open Enrollment Kits
By markwollacott | October 27, 2010
In March, CBS asked if health premiums would go down? Well, the answer is elementary my dear Watson, no.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation in September, the average rise in family health premiums was 3 percent; however, the average rise passed on my companies to their employees was a whopping, pocketbook-sizzling 14 percent. Now, one in four covered workers will be paying over $1,000 annually in deductibles.
Workers will now pay an average of $4,000 a year, a rise of around $500. This means that in the past five years worker’s contributions have risen 47 percent compared to an actual healthcare premium rise of just 27 percent; the buck is getting passed on.
CBS believed healthcare costs would level off eventually. Not because healthcare premiums became more affordable but because tax credits would take the strain for workers.
Indeed, the New York Times in September argued healthcare premiums paid by individuals for private Medicare Advantage plans, about one-fourth of all plans, would decline slightly in 2011.
Fall is upon us and we are sliding into winter. While winter means different things to different states; the Autumnal healthcare premium bundle from your employer is a universal headache.
Alan M. Wolf is finding that each small business is being hit harder than larger ones; with some of their healthcare premiums going up by more than 20 percent. So, in this fraught environment, not looking at the open enrollment kits that get chucked in your desks is not an option.
Standardized, affordable, universal healthcare while good for the many; is very hard to organize and near impossible to do overnight. So, it is vitally important that as workers are paying more, that they do their research thoroughly in order to get the best deal for them and their families.
