National Quotes’ research has shown that U.S. business employers are expecting an average of a 7-percent increase in their health care costs in 2013 due to the bill passed that requires all citizens to have health insurance coverage. Pending the state’s approval, many large-group HMO policies will increase by 4.9 percent to 9.8 percent, and small-group policies and self-insured policies will have varying rate increases due to previous claims.

Mark Byrne, vice president of Vanner Benefits LLC, explains that many people are already bracing for the potential increase but are still waiting to hear how bad it’ll really be. “Before, it was October and people were scrambling. They were totally reactive and a lot of times you didn’t have time to go to another carrier. I like the fact they’re coming out a little bit earlier now,” he said.

As of this moment, Independent Health predicts a 4.9-percent rate increase for large-group HMO policies and a 3.7-percent to 8.2-percent rate increase for small-group policies. Aetna Health Inc. predicts an average of 4.6-percent rate increases for businesses with fewer than 51 employees.

BlueCross BlueShield of WNY predicts a 6-percent to 9.8-percent rate increase for HMO policies and a 12-percent to 15.8-percent rate increase on small-group policies with a decrease in prescriptions costs.

Universal Healthcare predicts a 5.7-percent to 7.7-percent rate increase for small-group policies and 13.1-percent to 18.9-percent rate increase for high-deductible policies.

With these rate increases comes a change in how the employer-sponsored health insurance coverage will be offered to employees, and employers will focus more on encouraging employees to purchase high-deductible policies to save on expenses.

Brian Murphy, partner of Buffalo’s Lawley Benefits Group, stated, "We’ve made significant headway with many clients. I think employers understand the health of their employees makes a difference in their rates in the future."

Nonetheless, health insurance rates will increase once again next year, continuing the decade-old trend. National Quotes recommends for individuals and business owners to request multiple health insurance quotes to receive the best coverage at the lowest price.