It is almost impossible to pick up a newspaper or news magazine these days without seeing an article about employer-sponsored health benefit plans. Health inflation since 2000 has driven the cost of these benefits up much more rapidly than general inflation or wages. Employers have responded by modifying their plans, often raising premiums on those covered under them or raising deductible and coinsurance rates for those using their benefits. Retirees are one group that is particularly vulnerable to health plan changes. This article looks at what employers have done in regard to sponsoring these benefits generally and then looks at what employers in higher education are doing for retired faculty.
