Meeting of interest
Western Colo. HR Assoc
Fall Conference
Wednesday, Sept. 17 2008
All-day event begins at 8 a.m
Two River Conference Center
Grand Junction
Afternoon workshops feature Ralph Pollock from the Business Health Forum and Kelly Esselman
from Mountain States Employers Council. The first afternoon workshop
allows us an opportunity to let out voice be heard as we participate in
a discussion titled "Colorado Health Care Reform - What is the Employer's Response?"
Kelly
and Ralph really want to know! They will be reviewing legislative
proposals and recent initiatives and will take feedback to the
Capitol. The second workshop is titled "Assessing Assessment: An
Examination of Pre- Employment Testing." Come prepared to interact!
Attendance at the day's events can earn up to 5 recertification credits!!
Register for the event online.
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The Business Health Forum is funded by several foundations, including The Colorado Health Foundation and The Colorado Trust.
Stay tuned for info. about upcoming business health care forums in your community.
To learn more about the Forum, contact Amy Fletcher at afletcher@bizhealthforum.org or call 303-866-9659.
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Dear Amy,
As
health insurance premiums continue to soar and Colorado examines
wide-scale health care reform, there has never been a more important
time for the business community to engage in the debate. The Forum is a
new project to help you connect the dots and weigh in on solutions.
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Study: Workers to pay more for health care
Get ready for another hike in copays and deductibles.
The Associated Press reports that a survey being released Thursday by
the Mercer consulting firm found 59 percent of companies intend to keep
down rising health care costs in 2009 by raising workers' deductibles,
copays or out-of-pocket spending limits.
On average, health care
costs will go up by an estimated 5.7 percent next year for both workers
and their employers, the study found. That repeats this year's 5.7
percent hike and a 6.1 percent jump in 2007.
Mercer's complete
survey results won't be released until later in the year, but for the
1,317 employer health plan sponsors that have responded so far, the
total cost to renew their current health plans - if they were to make
no changes - would grow by nearly 8 percent on average. Small employers
(those with 10-499 employees) would see an even higher increase, of
about 10 percent. However, the majority of respondents say they will
take action to lower their actual cost increases.
The growth of
health care costs has hovered at around 6 percent since 2005, according
to Mercer. While that's down from the double-digit growth in previous
years, it's still moving at a faster clip than inflation or workers
wages.
The results were preliminary findings, which have historically been in line with final results. Associated Press
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Top health care news
Pueblo business school to join health care network
Colorado State University-Pueblo's Hasan School of Business will join
with three other Southern Colorado organizations in developing a
network to promote improved and expanded access to health care.
Hasan School of Business will join with the Center for Leadership and
Community Development, Action 22 Foundation, Center for Immigrant and
Community Integration of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Pueblo
and the San Luis Valley Immigrant Resource Center to advocate for
residents of 22 counties in the region to gain access to health care.
The Colorado Trust recently awarded the partnership a $200,000 grant to get the network started.
The partnership will focus on helping community members identify their
health needs and collecting and analyzing data that will aid with the
community-based planning and program development. Pueblo Chieftain
Health care pacts strain pacts between employers and labor
The skyrocketing cost of health care is increasing conflict between
employers and unions, and as costs continue to rise, the tensions
likely will too.
Over the next year, health-care costs are
expected to rise more than 10 percent, according to a survey of
insurers by Aon Consulting Worldwide. That's the smallest increase the
consulting firm has seen in the past six years.
As a result of
such soaring costs, employers have been turning to their employees to
defray the expense. In Arizona, according to the Arizona Daily Star,
Qwest Communications International Inc. is turning to members of its
largest union to contribute to their monthly premiums for the first
time, and the defense contractor Raytheon Co. is involved in a federal
lawsuit regarding health costs for early retirees.
Last month,
contract negotiations between Qwest and its largest union, the
Communications Workers of America, stretched past the expiration of
their previous contract.
Denver-based Qwest struck a tentative
agreement Aug. 18 with CWA members getting wage increases of slightly
more than 9 percent compounded over three years, Toevs said. But for
the first time, those members would have to make a small contribution
to their monthly health-care premiums, he said. Arizona Daily Star
Obama accepts presidential nomination, discusses health care
Sen.
Barack Obama (D-Ill.) on Thursday at the Democratic National Convention
in Denver accepted the presidential nomination and discussed his
proposals for health care and other issues, the San Francisco Chronicle
reports.
In comments about his health care proposal, Obama said,
"If you have health care, my plan will lower your premiums," adding,
"If you don't, you'll be able to get the same kind of coverage that
members of Congress give themselves." He added, "Now is the time to
help families with paid sick days and better family leave."
The
Service Employees International Union and Families USA on Wednesday
hosted a forum in Denver as part of "their lobbying efforts to get
health care reform passed in the next administration's first 100 days,"
Roll Call reports. During the forum, former Democratic presidential
candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) cited the need to "move
any legislation in the very beginning of a new president's term,"
adding, "We cannot wait." Kaiser Family Foundation
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