In line with trends in the private sector, health insurance premiums will increase an average of 7% next year in the health insurance program covering federal employees and retirees, the Federal Office of Personal Management said last week.

The 7% increase for the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program-which is the nation’s largest group plan, covering about 8 million people, is similar to rate increase industry experts expect private-sector employers to be hit with next year.

Still, the federal program’s 7% average premium increases is sharply higher than this year, when increases averaged just more than 2%. Government officials attribute next year’s cost increase in large part to greater demand for medical services, higher prescription drug costs and an aging workforce.

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This entry was posted by Adam V. Russo on Tuesday, September 30th, 2008 at 12:54 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.