New data from Mercer shows that employers say they will be forced yet again to offset their rising premiums on the wallets of their employees:
Well over half (59 percent) of employers taking action to reduce their 2009 cost increase will raise deductibles, copayments, coinsurance or employee out-of-pocket spending limits. Employee cost-sharing has risen sharply over the past five years: Between 2003 and 2007, the median family deductible for in-network services in a PPO (the type of plan offered by the most employers) rose from $1,000 to $1,500.
How much more can employers take or employees endure?
We’re almost to the end of a great American tradition – two weeks of partisan political posturing – and I’m growing less and less certain there’s any help at hand for our business friends.
Here are the worries I hear from the Wichita retail and service sector: Energy, energy, energy and the ramifications of high energy prices.
From skyrocketing delivery bills to doubling food prices to customers cutting back on restaurants, movies and clothing, the cost of energy is eroding a tough-to-kill Wichita economy. It gets your attention when Dillard’s, a longtime Wichita retailing stalwart, reports publicly it’s losing money and closing under-performing stores. Yet after two weeks of listening to pols from both sides of the aisle, I hear relatively little to change what’s dragging down our economy.
Alternative fuels? Great idea 30 years ago. Off-shore drilling? Puh-leeze. Ten years away and of minimal impact at a time when we need to get off of oil. Reel in the speculators? OK, where’s the action? Tax cuts for businesses? Swell, but how does that put more money in the hands of customers who are growing more afraid by the day for their jobs? A cool grand in a government check? That’s nice. My house will be warm for two months, but I won’t have enough left for a steak or a shirt.
It’s a complicated problem with no easy solutions. I’m interested to hear yours. What can be done short-term to strengthen Wichita’s retail economy?
OK, perhaps a smart employee wouldn’t admit this, but … I did just have the kind of power nap Andi Atwater wrote about.
I had a 7 a.m. speaking engagement this morning. And though I was grateful for the opportunity, I’m more of an evening person, so the early hour completely disrupted my schedule. I planned my evening around going to bed earlier, but that didn’t work. I set three alarms but still woke up at 3:30 a.m. worried that I wouldn’t get up in time. Then, since I was up, I started worrying about other things.
All this to say by the time I made it into work following my talk, I was toast. I was in a fog staring at the computer screen not accomplishing much. So I retreated to a ladies lounge we have here at The Eagle for a quick nap.
I don’t often sleep on the job. But since I did, I’m a new woman. Rested, refocused and ready for my noon meeting.
Sarah Palin probably doesn’t take power naps, but for those of us who aren’t superhuman, they do seem to work.