For the fifth year in a row, employers will hold per-employee health benefit cost growth to under 5%, according to a new survey of more than 1,200 employers conducted by Mercer.
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Responses show employers predicting that health benefit cost per employee will rise by 4.2%, on average, in 2016, after making planned changes such as raising deductibles or switching carriers. This is consistent, Mercer says, with the 3.9% actual cost growth in 2014 and the expected cost growth for 2015.
Mercer notes there appears to be an unexpected (and welcome) slow-down in underlying cost growth—the increase employers would expect if they made no changes to their medical plans.