Employers to Pass on the Higher Cost of Care

A recent survey shows that employers are beginning to pass on the rising costs of healthcare to their employees to avoid letting it affect their bottom line. "About 63 percent of businesses plan to make employees pay a higher percentage of their premium costs in 2011, said the Washington-based National Business Group on Health, which surveyed 72 companies that employ more than 3.7 million people."

Previously, several big-name companies announced that they were considering dropping their health benefits as a result of the new healthcare reform legislation. Their reasons are fairly straightforward: the cost of providing medical benefits to their employees will be much greater than the cost of paying the fees the new law will mandate if they do not provide benefits. Companies with thousands of employees stand to save millions, and in some cases, billions of dollars by dropping their current health benefits in favor of the healthcare bill's fines.