Companies expect to spend an average of 5.9% more per employee on health insurance next year after shifting some costs to workers and making other changes, according to a survey by Mercer.

If they made no money-saving changes, per-employee costs would rise by an average of 10.1%, including an average 2.3% bump from complying with certain provisions of health-care overhaul, according to the survey of 1,091 employers.

AKaiser Family Foundation survey released last week found employees paid about 14% more for family coverage this year. Mercer’s survey looks ahead to next year and finds 57% of employers will ask workers to pay at least a somewhat greater share of the cost of coverage. Some 31% plandependent audits (making sure claimed dependents are actually eligible for coverage), and 27% say they’ll seek lower bids for coverage from insurers.

Slightly more than half — 53% — of employers plan to hang on to “grandfathered” status for their health plans, which means they’ll tinker so little with them that the changes won’t trigger some of those new health-overhaul requirements, including extending coverage to dependents up to age 26 and ending annual and lifetime benefit maximums. Many other companies found they could save more money by changing their plans, even though they have to adhere to the new requirements, Mercer says.

As the WSJ reported today, insurers are blaming health overhaul for rate increases. The advocacy group Health Care for America Now, however, says that insurers are using the new law as an excuse to raise premiums.

• Health-Care Overhaul

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