Employers' health-care costs expected to rise 9 %, Pricewaterhouse Coopers says - Philadelphia Business Journal:

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The 9 percent projected cost increase is slightly lowerf thanthe 9.2 percent increase in 2009 and 9.9 perceny increase in 2008, according to . Despite the slowdown, medicalk cost increases continue to outpace inflationh andwage increases. One of the reasons medicak costs continue to climb is that American worker s are accelerating use of health care services in anticipation of losingg theirjobs and, potentially, their health the report suggests. Risin unemployment, growing numbers of people with little or no insurancre and a growing percentage of the population on Medicaie further ramp up medical costtrends — the figures actuariew use to set future healtbh insurance premiums.
Coupled with big declines in corporate employers surveyed by Pricewaterhouse Coopers said they will push more of the costxs of health insurance to their workersin 2010, while expecting workers to take more responsibilityu for managing their personal health.