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| Don't Tamper With Proven CON Tool |
| Published: September 28, 2004 |
Grand Rapids Business Journal this week reports extensively on a topic clearly of top priority to businesses, here and across the country. The Employers' Association in Grand Rapids and the Alliance for Health collected new survey data reflecting the fifth consecutive year of double-digit premium increases in 2004, with employers shifting more of the rising costs to employees. The price of health-care benefits increased 11.5 percent again this year, an average across all plans and after employers altered those plans in an effort to mitigate the increases. Last year the increases averaged 10.4 percent. The average cost of a health plan in West Michigan has risen at a compounded rate of 75 percent. Steelcase, in its quarterly report last week, specifically noted "new challenges" as "rising steel, energy and health care costs, putting additional pressure on the economic recovery." |
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