Healthcare Financial News

Medicare on average provides less generous benefits to seniors than they would receive under a typical large-employer health plan or the most popular plan available to federal employees--even with the program’s new drug benefit, according to a new Kaiser Family Foundation analysis.

The study finds that seniors on average would expect to receive Medicare benefits valued at $10,610 in 2007. In comparison, they would expect to receive benefits valued at $12,160 in the typical large-employer PPO and $11,780 in the federal workers’ plan.

According to the study report, How Does the Benefit Value of Medicare Compare to the Benefit Value of Typical Large Employer Plans?, the average senior in 2007 (with $14,270 in total Medicare spending) would pay 26 percent of total costs out of pocket under Medicare, but 15 percent in a typical large-employer plan and 17 percent in the federal workers’ plan. Read the report.

The combined average premium and out-of-pocket costs for health coverage for a U.S. worker are projected to increase by nearly 9 percent in 2009, to $3,826 per year, according to an annual study by Hewitt Associates. For the study, Hewitt evaluated data on employer-sponsored health plans from more than 300 major businesses with an average of 16,000 employees, encompassing more than 13 million health plan members.

According to the study, Survey Findings: Two Roads Diverged: Hewitt’s Annual Health Care Survey 2008, premium contributions for workers enrolled in individual plans are expected to increase by 8 percent to an average of $1,946 per year, or $162 monthly, and out-of-pocket costs are projected to increase by 10.1 percent to $156 per month. The study also projected that health insurance costs for companies will increase by 6.4 percent in 2009 to $8,863 per employee. Access the report.