(WBEN) - As open enrollment notices start to be sent out by employers, workers are bracing for serious sticker shock.
A recent analysis shows that the total health benefit cost per employee is expected to rise 6.5% on average next year, which means the cost to employees will go up even more.
"We're now seeing employers getting renewals that are 20-30% more," said Dan Labroad,an employee benefits consultant and CEO of Ovation Health & Life Services. "They can't bear that burden. That cost is either going to be passed on to employees or split between the two of them."
The rising price of treatment and higher utilization rates are among the reasons costs are soaring. It's pushing 59% of employers to make changes that include raising deductibles and cost sharing provisions that can lead to higher out-of-pocket costs for plan members.
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"We're going to see employees start dropping coverage, and that's not good for anybody," Labroad said. "It's not good for the health plan itself because the more people that drop out, that leaves the people in it to be the sicker people, which increases claims, which goes back to the premium rate. You want the healthy, young people who pay into the plan but don't use it because that offsets the people that are using it."
The initial sticker shock will only amplify open enrollment stress.
"If it's going to cost me $1,000, $1,500, $2,000 a month to insure my family, what other purchase a year do you make that's $20-30,000 that you have to make in two weeks?" Labroad said. "A car you're shopping it, looking at it, deciding months in advance on the right financing and right budget. Here, you have two weeks to make a $24,000 decision."