Health Benefit Costs Rise Only 0.2% in 1997

OPEN MINDS The Behavioral Health & Social Service Industry Analyst Industry News Growth in total health plan costs for active and retired workers of private and public-sector employers with ten or more employees was held to 0.2% in 1997 due to an unexpected spike in managed care enrollment, according to a survey of nearly f 4,000 employers released by William M. Mercer, Incorporated. The 12th annual "Mercer/Foster Higgins National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans," found that a total health benefits costs for active and a retired workers averaged $3,924 per employee in 1997, compared . . .