The percentage of employers who think their health-care costs are "out of control" is up from 48 percent in 2000 to 59 percent this year, a new Harris Interactive survey shows.
As a result, human resources directors of most employers of all sizes plan changes in health plans over the next two years that will shift greater costs to their employees.
Seven in 10 employers will increase employee cost-sharing in the next two years, the survey said.
A large majority of companies plan to increase the premiums paid by their employees (75 percent), increase employee cost-sharing (70 percent), presumably through increased co-pays and deductibles, and increase the amount employees pay for spouses' and dependents' coverage (68 percent), the survey showed.
As employers increase employee cost-sharing, 59 percent expect to offer their employees a wider choice of voluntary benefits, the survey said.
For the survey, The Harris Poll polled 304 human resource directors and 100 health plan managers in May and June this year.