A new survey finds Colorado's employers will face higher health insurance rates in 2014 than in the last couple of years.
Colorado businesses say they are being asked to pay 11 percent more for health plans next year and most companies say they will pass some of that cost on to workers.
Bill Lindsay of Lockton Companies, which does the yearly survey, says employers will do that in two ways.
“One would be increasing the employee’s cost, their share of the premium, particularly for dependents,” Lindsay said.
Lindsay also says the other way employers will pass on costs is by increasing out-of-pocket expenses, which means higher deductibles and co-pays when people visit the doctor.
According to Lindsay, the increases are, in part, a result of new requirements under the Affordable Care Act.
But Colorado Center on Law and Policy's Elisabeth Arenales disagrees, saying health insurance costs have fluctuated for years and it's too early to tell how the federal law will affect the cost of coverage.
