As employers scour their health plans with an eye to controlling costs, they appear to be using an upper limit set by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to adjust the out-of-pocket limits skyward.

Data released by insurance software developer Zywave revealed that, within Zywave's 50,000-employer customer database, 32 percent of plans had out-of-pocket limits of more than $5,000 in 2013. That's up from 20 percent in 2012.

This increase suggests that employers are using the PPACA caps as their target, Michelle Jackson, product director for Wauwatosa-based Zywave, said in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The PPACA caps out-of-pocket spending at $6,350 for individuals and $12,700 for families in 2014.

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Dan Cook

Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.