Benefits Selling - March 2012

newswirebenefits

BY KATHRYN MAYER

tuning out

California sees higher health costs, fewer employer plans

Here are the details
from the IRS:
•;HSA contribution
limits: The 2012
annual HSA
contribution limit
for individuals with
self-only HDHP
coverage is $3,100
(a $50 increase from
2011), and the limit
for individuals with
family HDHP coverage
is $6,250 (a $100
increase from 2011).

•;HDHP minimum required deductibles: The 2012 minimum annual deductible for self-only HDHP coverage remains $1,200 and the deductible for family HDHP coverage remains $2,400.

•;HDHP out-of-pocket maximum: The 2012 maximum limit on out-of-pocket expenses (including items such as deductibles, co-payments, and co-insurance, but not premiums) for self-only HDHP coverage is $6,050 (a $100 increase from 2011), and the limit for family HDHP coverage is $12,100 (a $200 increase from 2011).

That, along with increased
cost sharing for employees, is in
part a response to a steady rise in
costs during
these
dismal
economic
times. Other
companies
( 22 percent)
have opted
to make

FEWER CALIFORNIA workers were offered health insurance through their company last year—and the ones that were getting coverage had to pay significantly more.

An annual survey by the California HealthCare Foundation finds premiums for employer health insurance plans have risen 153.5 percent since 2002, a rate that’s more than five times the increase in California’s inflation rate. And in just the last two years, the proportion of California employers offering coverage fell to 63 percent from 73 percent.

Over the last two years, the proportion of
California employers offering coverage fell
73% from 63% to

Premiums for
employer health
insurance plans
have risen

153.5% since 2002

employees pay more of the share of the higher premiums.

And 2012 will likely be
worse, the survey suggests.
More than a third of California
companies ( 36 percent) said
they were either “very” or
“somewhat” likely to raise the
amount that their staff paid in
premiums in 2012.

BY THE NUMBERS: MEDICARE FUTURE

82% of middle-income Americans with Medicare say they’re
extremely or very satisfied with Medicare’s access and quality of
health care, according to a new study conducted by the Bankers
Life and Casualty Co. Center for a Secure Retirement.
Just 2% say they aren’t. Pre-Medicare aren’t as happy: 46%
report being extremely or very satisfied with their access and
quality of health care and 24% are dissatisfied. But overall,
people are concerned. 87% are concerned about the future
of Medicare and 71% believe the federal government will cut
back Medicare benefits. 10,000 Americans turning age 65 every
day with 85% relying on the Medicare system.