Employers are paying a total of $88 billion annually to subsidize Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements, an industry study found. In addition to the cost of medical coverage for their staff, employers pay an additional $1,115 to cover the difference in doctors' and hospitals' reimbursements from those public programs. Employees pay an average of $397 more each year, the report found, and $376 more in co-insurance and deductibles.
The report was an attempt to quantify the amount employers and employees are paying to cover the difference, rather than determine an appropriate amount. According to Milliman, the actuarial company that conducted the survey, this is the first report to quantify employers' costs.
"Medicare and Medicaid are not paying providers enough to cover their costs, and so employers and employees end up footing the bill," Robert Zirkelbach, a spokesman for the Washington-based insurance lobby America's Health Insurance Plans, told Workforce Management.
