Benefits Institute pessimistic about defined-contribution plans. (Life/Health: Marketplace).Medical-care costs have been rising by double digits Double Digits was a pricing game on the American television game show, The Price Is Right. Played from April 20, 1973 through May 18, 1973's show, it was played for a car and used small prizes. the past three years, but the Employee Benefit Research Institute says a new kind of health plan will have little ability to stop the increases. Even if employers start adopting "defined-contribution" health benefits in large numbers, medical costs will continue to spiral spiral /spi·ral/ (spi´ral) 1. helical; winding like the thread of a screw. 2. helix; a winding structure. because employment-based health insurance finances only 27% of national health-care expenditures. But EBRI EBRI Employee Benefit Research Institute EBRI Eccma Business Reporting Identifier EBRI Exclusive Buyers Realty Inc. (San Antonio, TX) said in a report that defined-contribution may not target the most important source of growth in costs. That source--technological advances--accounts for more than 50% of the rise in expenditures. EBRI said Medicare and Medicaid Medicare and Medicaid U.S. government programs in effect since 1966. Medicare covers most people 65 or older and those with long-term disabilities. Part A, a hospital insurance plan, also pays for home health visits and hospice care. purchasing strategies are likely to be more important than employment-based insurance in affecting marketwide rates of technical advances in medical care. |
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