INDEPENDENT’S MEDICAL PLAN TO SEE
INCREASE FOR UPCOMING PLAN YEAR
As you may be aware healthcare costs on a National level are continuing to rise with unprecedented levels of claim dollars. The claim dollars are now going toward prescription drug expenses for employees and their dependents with the advent of new specialty drugs and many brand name drugs blocking the introduction of generic equivalents.
The increases have become slightly less volatile over the last couple of years, but Independent’s health plan is still outpacing general inflation. Many companies continue to be faced with double-digit increases every year! We were fortunate that Independent’s plan saw no increase in premiums during the previous renewal.
Independent’s insurance committee has been working very
closely along with our health and welfare consultants at Wells Fargo to negotiate
and reduce the increase that Highmark is requiring for the upcoming
renewal. Unfortunately, the same trends being seen nationally on
prescription drug claims appears to be impacting Independent’s increase as
well.
We hope to have more information to share in the upcoming
weeks on how this may impact you so you have time to make a more informed
decision when the Annual Enrollment meetings take place in July.
