| MORROW |
| AND ASSOCIATES, LLC |
| Improving the Business of Healthcare® |
| Healthcare Trends |
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Source: Kaiser/HRET Employer Health Benefits 2006 Annual Survey
Source: Kaiser/HRET Employer Health Benefits 2006 Annual Survey
| What is the Government's Role? U.S. Health care currently costs about $2 trillion per year. Of this, 31 percent is never seen by recipients. It goes for administration. That amount is roughly $280 billion more than is spent for administration in the other twenty-one countries whose life expectancies exceed those in the U.S. Worse yet, the current system leaves more than 40 million Americans uninsured. Business management already feels the effects of health care costs more acutely than most consumers. A recent McKinsey study estimates that more than half of the $98 billion of excess administrative costs it identified goes for insurance company marketing and underwriting. Its estimate does not include the costs of sorting out acceptable applicants or denying payments under existing policies, another substantial amount. |
| Health Insurance Premium Trends According to the 2006 Survey of Employer Health Benefits by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Health Research & Educational Trust (HRET): "The key findings show a moderation in the rate of premium growth for 2006, the third consecutive year in which the growth rate has declined. Even at this lower rate of growth, however, growth in health insurance costs outpaced the rate of inflation and the growth in workers’ wages. Employers continue to offer consumer-directed health plans, including high deductible plans that can be paired with Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) or Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs), but the market share of these plans remains modest." "In response to changes in the market, high deductible health plans associated with a savings option (HDHP/SO) are now shown in the survey as a separate plan type and included in all of the tables that break out plan characteristics by plan type. Information about plan deductibles and out-of-pocket maximum amounts also has been expanded. In some cases these changes will mean that statistics from the 2006 survey cannot be directly compared with findings from previous years." |
| Cumulative Changes in Health Insurance Premiums, Overall Inflation, and Workers' Earnings 2000 - 2006 |
| Increases in Health Insurance Premiums Compared to Other Indicators, 1988 - 2006 |
Source: Kaiser/HRET Employer Health Benefits 2006 Annual Survey
