2006 Health Plan Cost Changes Post #1

In 2006, the average of $ 155 per month for health care will occurr, up 10% from 2005, according to Businessweek's October 24, 2005 issue.

I'm already complaining about having to pay $110 a month for a barebone Kaiser HMO plan. Looks like, I will be complaining even more next year.

Here's a summary of things to come in terms of health benefits:

* Usage of high-deductible plans by your employers and companies that allows you to allocate how the health-care dollars are spent.

* High deductible accounts mainly consist of Health Reimbursement Accounts (HRA) or Health Savings Accounts (HSA). More information on these will be posted soon.

* The catch is of course that there's a much higher deductible for these plans. I will write more on this on the next post.

* Higher costs for prescription drugs.

* A lot of companies will be offering financial incentives to you for participation in wellness surveys. I assume that this will be part of the prevention approach that's getting popular with health care plans recently.

I will write more on this later but now, I am going hiking nearby on this new hiking trail....well, not exactly a new trail but I just recently found it so I guess it's actually only new to me. The trail head is next to Irvine's Duck Club. Something free and still breathtaking, I hope! Will be writing about the trail later on as well.