While costs are on the rise for business owners who offer employee benefits to their workers, the pace at which they're increasing has slowed, a new report shows.
According to human resources firm Aon Hewitt, average healthcare premium rates for large employers in 2012 was 4.9 percent. Though higher than 2011, the rate of price growth was considerably less than in 2011, when prices jumped 8.5 percent from the previous year.
The report also revealed the average healthcare cost for each employee. As with the overall premium rate, they too edged northward, totaling $10,522 in 2012 from $10,034 in 2011. Approximately $2,200 of these costs came from employees' wage earnings, up from $2,090 in the previous year.
Business owners in certain parts of the country experienced larger cost increases than others, Aon Hewitt found. Premium rates tended to be the highest in cities within California, as the San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose markets experienced a 7.4 percent jump in costs, followed by Los Angeles at 7.2 percent. Austin, Texas, rounded out the top five at 6.5 percent
Despite premium price growth weakening, Aon Hewitt projects that they will increase more significantly in 2013, estimated to jump by 6.3 percent.
