Several items about employer-provided group health care benefits have crossed my desk lately. In light of the presidential election next week, all of these items could be addressed soon under a new administration. But it is important to understand the scope of the problem that group health insurance has become for employers.

The rising cost of health care benefits is the issue that will have the biggest impact on the workplace in the years ahead, according to a recent survey of human resource professionals by the Society for Human Resource Management. The HR professionals surveyed believe that health care costs not only have the biggest impact on the bottom line but will affect our global competitiveness.

The national concern over rising health care premiums is echoed in Texas for good reason, according to an October 23 article in the Dallas Morning News:

Texans earn more than they did eight years ago, but their health insurance premiums have jumped six times faster than their wages and gone up faster than the national average, according to a study to be released today.

In its study, “Premiums versus Paychecks,” Families USA, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit consumer advocate, found that health care premiums rose 86.8 percent from 2000 to 2007 – from $6,638 to $12,403 – while median earnings rose just 15 percent – going from $23,032 to $26,484.

“[Texas] earnings were actually a little better than the rest of the nation [14.5 percent], but health care premiums increased faster,” said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA.

In my part of the country, those rising health care costs are causing many employers to drop group health care coverage completely as a benefit. Only high paying white-collar jobs, government jobs and the largest employers in the area still consistently provide group health care benefits, and many of them are requiring their employees to share in the cost of the premiums.

Apparently that trend is not just local. Continue reading Health Care Dilemmas for Employers →