Managed Care Outlook
MANAGED CARE March 2004. ©MediMedia USA
Employer-sponsored health benefits for retirees could go the way of house calls and dial phones thanks to increasing health care costs. A study by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Hewitt Associates says that 10 percent of 408 companies with 1,000 employees or more plan to drop coverage for future retirees. Twenty percent say they plan to do so in the next three years. The companies were polled between June and September 2003.
Employer-sponsored health insurance for retirees pays for benefits not covered by Medicare, such as prescription drugs, and helps workers who retire before they are eligible for the government program.
SOURCE: KAISER/HEWITT 2003 SURVEY ON RETIREE HEALTH BENEFITS, JANUARY 2004
MANAGED CARE March 2004. ©MediMedia USA