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Insurance

25% put off medical care because of cost fears

01/02/2020
The 25% delay rate is the highest ever recorded by the Gallup polling organization, and an increase over the 19% recorded in 2018.

Health insurance costs rising faster than incomes

12/12/2019
The average annual growth in the cost of premiums and deductibles for employees who get their health insurance through work has outpaced growth in the median U.S. income over the last 10 years.

Workers’ comp model could curb opioid crisis

12/12/2019
Abuse of prescription opioids has been cited as one of the leading factors in a recent decline in the life expectancy of working-age Americans. Now a federal program seeks to limit addiction by controlling how much medication injured federal government employees are allowed to receive.

Workers seek lower out-of-pocket health costs

11/19/2019
What’s highest on employees’ health insurance wish-lists? Predictable out-of-pocket costs, according to research by Kaiser Health News—even if that means paying higher monthly premiums.

Employers seek new health care cost-control strategies

11/12/2019
Curbing the cost of health care and increasing its affordability remain the top priorities for almost all employers over the next three years, according to the 24th annual Best Practices in Health Care Employer Survey by Willis Towers Watson.

Health benefit spending follows the 20/80 rule

11/12/2019
A new study from the Employee Benefit Research Institute finds that a small minority of employees account for a huge majority of health insurance plan spending.

Higher health premiums mean less spent elsewhere

11/12/2019
More than 80% of adults told pollsters they would have to cut back on other spending when health care costs increase.

Survey: Most employers offer wellness benefits

10/15/2019
Employers are going beyond providing traditional health benefits to address employees’ well-being, finds a survey from the Robert Half staffing firm.

Average family health premiums now top $20,000

10/15/2019
Annual family premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance rose 5% to average $20,576 this year, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation’s just-released 2019 Employer Health Benefits Survey.

27% of adults have a pre-existing condition

10/10/2019
An analysis by the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation finds that almost 54 million people—or 27% of all adults under age 65—have pre-existing health conditions that would likely have made them uninsurable in the individual markets that existed in most states before the Affordable Care Act.