The cost of providing employee medical benefits continues to escalate at double-digit levels around the globe, although the increases are stabilizing in some regions, according to a new survey.
Towers Watson, New York (NYSE, NASDAQ: TW), published this finding in a summary of results from its 2012 Towers Watson Global Medical Trends Survey of 237 medical insurers in 48 countries. This year's survey represents a nearly 40% increase in participating insurers and a 30% increase in the number of countries since 2010.
The increase in survey participants, the study says, illustrates "how rapidly the private health care industry is expanding worldwide and how popular health care coverage has become as an employee benefit."
The survey's authors expect the global cost of employee medical benefits will increase 9.6% this year. This is slightly lower than the 9.8% increase experienced in 2011 and 10.2% increase in 2009, but the survey expects costs to continue to increase at double-digit levels in four of the five global regions this year, with only Europe expecting to see single-digit increases.
