December 2003

Healthcare costs continue to rise

Employers' healthcare costs will continue to increase at a double-digit pace in 2004, according to the results of a national survey of health insurers, HMOs and third-party administrators released by the Human Resources & Investor Solutions (HR&IS) group of Mellon Financial Corporation.

In its eleventh National Health Care Trend Survey, conducted in the fourth quarter of 2003, HR&IS analyzed the responses from nearly 100 insurers and administrators to determine projected health care cost increases throughout 2004. Survey results showed that while trends for the most popular plans are expected to decrease slightly when compared to trends reported in HR&IS' previous survey conducted in the third quarter of 2003, costs will still increase at double-digit pace.

The survey addressed hospital and managed care costs but did not look at costs for chiropractic care.

Source: Mellon Financial Corporation www.mellon.com

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