HEALTH-CARE BENEFITS COSTS RISE 10 PERCENT

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 2, 1993                   TAG: 9303020177
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: C5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK                                LENGTH: Short
HEALTH-CARE BENEFITS COSTS RISE 10 PERCENT
The cost of health-care benefits rose 10 percent last year to an average of $3,968 per worker despite stepped-up efforts to control costs, according to a survey released Monday.
The benefits consulting firm Foster Higgins said that for the first time, more than 50 percent of workers for companies it polled took part in managed-care plans. Such plans rein in costs by requiring approval for hospital stays and medical procedures and monitoring other medical services.
Care provided by health-maintenance organizations averaged $3,313 per worker last year, up 8.8 percent from 1991. The cost of traditional health-insurance plans rose 14.2 percent, to an average $4,080 per worker, the survey showed.
Not long ago, employers paid for all these costs, but increasingly workers are being asked to pay at least part of the bill.
"The good news is that the 10 percent rise in total health-plan costs was the lowest rate since 1987," said John Erb, the study's author. "But it's still three times the inflation rate. That's the bad news."

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB