“I think you’ll see [the 5 percent rise] in premium increases,” said Brian Marcotte, president and CEO of the Washington, D.C.-based National Business Group on Health, which released the study this week. “Most people will probably see minimal changes to deductibles and co-pays unless they move to a [higher-deductible] plan.”
This marks the fifth consecutive year that health care costs are expected to rise by 5 percent, according to the study. That outpaces the rate of inflation, which was 2.54 percent in 2016 and 2 percent for the first half of 2017.
Workers’ salaries also aren’t rising as quickly as health care costs. The most recent data from the Federal Reserve shows that wages are growing by 3.2 percent annually.