Bloomberg.com is reporting: “Wal-Mart, General Motors May Use Bush Plan to Cut Health Costs.” The article quotes Richard Berner, chief U.S. economist at Morgan Stanley in New York , as saying that “t]he surge in health-care costs has damped economic growth because companies are wary of raising salaries or adding workers.” According to the article, companies like General Motors, Wal-Mart, Intel Corp. and Textron Inc are now considering HSAs. Excerpt:
“The data is crystal clear,” said Chief Executive Rick Wagoner of General Motors, the nation’s largest buyer of health care through its employee-benefits program. “The U.S. is spending more on health care than any other country.”While General Motors says health care adds $1,400 to the cost of each car, Honda Motor Co. of Japan, which has a national health-care system, spends only about $400 extra, said Sung Won- Sohn, chief economist at Wells Fargo & Co. in Minneapolis.
“That hurts jobs,” Sohn said. “It’s like any other cost; like we see the cost of oil is hurting economic growth and raising prices. Health care slows economic growth.”
More from the article:
Aetna Inc., the third-largest U.S. health insurer, said employers using plans similar to the savings accounts held health-care cost increases to 3.7 percent.