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Benefits June 21, 2002
HMO to Impose Whopper Cost Hikes
June 21, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Companies signing
up with health maintenance organizations (HMOs) to provide
employee health coverage will have to dig even deeper in 2003
with costs expected to surge by an average of 16.2%,
according to a survey.
Reported by Fred Schneyer
The Aon survey said the latest results mark a continuing shift in the landscape of health care plans since HMO’s cost hikes have traditionally lagged those imposed of other types of plans, such as preferred provider organizations (PPO) and point of service (POS) plans.
In brief, the forecast for medical plan increases are as follows:
- for Idemnity plans, 18.3% with prescription medication, 17.1% without,
- for HMOs, 16.2% with prescription medication, 14.6% without,
- for POS plans, 16% with prescription medications, 14.5% without, and
- for PPO programs, 16% with prescription medication and 14.5% for those without
Further, Aon found that:
- pharmacy plans are expected to rise at a 17.8 % clip,
- all dental plans are expected to fall by below 10%, except for dental HMOs, which are expected to increase by 4.4 %, and
- vision plans are forecast to rise 3.2%
Twice a year, Aon surveys major providers of medical, dental, pharmacy and vision plans for its cost-hike forecasts.