Little relief seen in medical claims costs.

• Author: Marshall, Jeffrey
• Position: HEALTHCARE - Brief article

There's not much good news on the medical claims front, where costs are projected to remain stubbornly high. Increases in 2008 of 10.5 to 10.9 percent in per-capita medical claims costs for all managed care plan types are forecast by The Segal Co. in its 2008 Health Plan Cost Trend Survey--up from projected 11.1 to 12.0 percent hikes this year.

What good news there is, is statistical: this marks the fifth consecutive year of declining medical cost trends. The latest projected hikes, however, remain well above consumer price inflation and wage increases. The latest increases are primarily driven by price inflation for medical services and supplies and increased utilization rates by patients.

Prescription drug cost trends also continue to decelerate and are expected to be similar to medical for 2008: a 10.7 percent increase in retail network costs and a 10.6 percent hike in mail-order prescription costs.

Other key findings:

* Although employees are shifting from brand to generic drugs due to patent expiration and pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) efforts, brand drug...