U.S. firms confident healthcare continues

INDIANAPOLIS, April 22 (UPI) -- More than 98 percent of U.S. firms that provide health coverage are confident they will provide healthcare benefits one year from now, a survey indicates.

However, when asked to project ahead five years the 1,664 companies surveyed by United Benefit Advisors, an employee benefits advisory organization, said more than 86 percent of employers surveyed believed more healthcare costs will shift to their employees and 51 percent felt that Consumer Driven Health Plans would be the dominant plan.

Currently, 72.5 percent of the companies surveyed have or want to have a wellness program that utilizes a health risk assessment; and 59.2 percent have or desire to implement a chronic disease management program.

Twenty-six percent of employers want the government to develop a taxpayer-funded universal healthcare system, but 75 percent said the government should require hospitals and doctors to: publicly disclose pricing, require insurers to publicly disclose actual discounted prices paid to providers and mandate healthcare provider quality reporting.