WASHINGTON – Workers will pay more for their health care next year as companies prepare for provisions of the overhaul signed into law by President Barack Obama, according to a survey released Wednesday.

About 63 percent of businesses plan to make employees pay a higher percentage of their premium costs in 2011, said the Washington-based National Business Group on Health, which surveyed 72 companies that employ more than 3.7 million people. The survey showed 46 percent plan to raise the maximum level of out-of-pocket costs that workers must bear.

The companies surveyed expect health-care benefits costs to increase an average of 8.9 percent next year. New mandates under the legislation signed into law by Obama in March will contribute to the increase, the group’s president said.

 


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