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Employer-sponsored health coverage costs jumped this year. More hikes may be coming_我的网站

A |     The cost of health coverage through work jumped this year, in part because of inflation, according to a survey of U.S. employers.Premiums for both family and single plans climbed 7% after barely rising in 2022, according to a report Wednesday by KFF, a nonprofit that researches health care issues.Later this fall, companies begin their annual coverage enrollment window for 2024, and health care experts say another price hike could be coming.“It’s hard to imagine that there won’t be another year of health care cost increases, at least at the level we’re seeing right now,” said Paul Fronstin, director of health benefits research for the Employee Benefit Research Institute.Employer-sponsored health insurance is the most common form of coverage in the United States. KFF says almost 153 million Americans have it. Companies generally pay most of the premium — 70% or more in many cases.That can soften the impact of price hikes on employees. Coverage costs also are taken out of paychecks before taxes, which helps mitigate the financial pinch workers may feel, noted Fronstin, who was not involved in the KFF study.KFF noted that premiums climbed roughly with wages and inflation. The wider economy has felt those two pressures for more than a year, and now they are starting to affect health care costs, said Gary Claxton, a senior vice president with KFF. He noted that there can be a delay because health care contracts can keep costs stable after prices start rising in other parts of the economy.Fronstin said health care provider consolidation also can drive up care costs, which ultimately affects premiums. He also thinks the U.S. health care system — with its limited capacity to treat people — is still catching up on providing care that was delayed during the COVID-19 pandemic.“There’s only so much room for catch up,” he said. “I don’t believe colonoscopy centers are running 24/7 to catch up.”___The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.。

B |     Fisher-Price is recalling about 21,000 units of some of their popular Thomas & Friends toys.Parents and customers are being advised to stop using Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway Troublesome Truck & Crates and Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway Troublesome Truck & Paint toys because a small magnet encased in a plastic piece that can connect the toys to additional train toy pieces "can detach or become loose, posing choking and magnet ingestion hazards," according to a Consumer Product Safety Commission notice released Thursday.Fisher-Price said in a statement shared on their parent company Mattel's website that the company has received one report of the plastic part loosening and detaching from one of the Thomas & Friends toys but that no injuries have been reported so far."Fisher-Price's greatest concern and primary focus has always been the safety of the children who use our products," the company said in part. "For that reason, we've taken action to recall the Thomas & Friends Wooden Railway Troublesome Truck & Crates and Troublesome Truck & Paint."The recalled Troublesome Truck & Crates toys with model number HBJ89 have a black and gray coloring while the Troublesome Truck & Paint toys with model number HBJ90 are gray with a yellow paint splatter design on the sides of the toys. Both toy types are designed to look like Thomas & Friends characters and have light gray faces painted on them as well and measure about 3.6 inches long and 2.1 inches high, according to the CPSC.The CPSC said the Troublesome Truck toys, which were made in Indonesia and retailed for about $17, were sold online and in stores nationwide including at Amazon.com and at Barnes & Noble stores from February 2022 through August 2023.Anyone with the recalled toys can contact Fisher-Price through the Mattel website for a prepaid mailing label that they can use to request a refund. Fisher-Price said it will refund U.S. customers $17 for each recalled toy. If customers have additional questions, they can reach out to the company at 1-855-853-6224 between Monday to Friday and from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET.。

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