Employers' health care costs expected to rise 9 percent - Sacramento Business Journal:

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The 9 percent projected cost increase is slightly lowetr thanthe 9.2 percent increase in 2009 and 9.9 percent increase in 2008, according to Pricewaterhouse Coopers. Despite the slowdown, medical cost increasese continue to outpace inflation andwage increases. One of the reasonzs medical costs continue to climb is that American workers are accelerating use of healtyh care services in anticipation of losing theirjobs and, potentially, theif health insurance, the report suggests.
Rising unemployment, growin numbers of people with littles or no insurance and a growing percentagw of the population on Medicaidc further ramp up medical cost trends the figures actuaries use to set futurre healthinsurance premiums. Coupled with big declinesd in corporate profits, employers surveyex by Pricewaterhouse Coopers said they will push more of the costzs of health insurance to theidr workersin 2010, while expecting workers to take more responsibilitgy for managing their personal health. The national trendas suggest most employers and employees will pay far more than thosse in the purchasing pool run by the CaliforniaPublid Employees’ Retirement System.
The pensioh fund approved an overall 2.9 percent increase in health care premium for membersin 2010, the lowestt rate hike in 14 years.