US employers who pay for their employees’ health insurance as part of their salary package are being caught up in the country’s rising medical expenses problems, with Aon warning them to expect increases of up to 17% in their payments next year. That will make it five years in a row that US employers have been socked with double-digit rises for health plans.

“We expect employers to continue to explore a range of new options such as consumer-driven [ie, the employee pays] health plans, disease management programs, tiered hospital networks, pharmacy coalitions, health promotion incentives and others,” said Aon Consulting expert Bill Sharon.

After moving across from major medical plans to more flexible alternatives in the late 1980s and early 1990s, employers are now, not surprisingly, seeking health plans that require the employee to share the cost.