Our clients have seen average OVERALL benefit plan rate increases (including all benefits, not just drugs) of less than 4.5% over the past 15 years.  2017 brought some higher increases averaging 7.5% (partly due to aging) but according to the article below, we may see the rate of increase slow again over the coming year.

According to projections released by Aon Hewitt in December, costs for extended health-care plans will likely rise by six per cent in 2018. After inflation of 2.1 per cent, the net projected cost increase is 3.9 per cent. That’s down measurably from an overall cost increase of eight per cent in 2017 and a net rise of 6.1 per cent. And the numbers compare well to the global gross cost increase of 8.4 per cent.  For Article CLICK HERE