BLS DAILY REPORT, TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 1997: The price of health insurance remained under control in 1996, but health maintenance organizations are planning to hike costs this year, according to a widely watched survey. The cost of providing health coverage for workers and retirees grew 2.5 percent last year, to $3,915 per person, according to a survey of 3,200 employers being released Tuesday by the consulting firm Foster Higgins. However, HMOs, whose rates have been flat or declining for 2 years, are planning increases in 1997, Foster Higgins said (The Washington Post, in an Associated Press story, page A4). __Medical costs, which have risen less than inflation for the last 3 years, are beginning to inch ahead and may be poised for a sharp rise, especially for small businesses, according to employers, actuaries and industry consultants. Employers across the country said their health care costs were headed for a 4 percent increase this year, according to a survey released yesterday, And some health care experts project 5 to 10 percent growth in medical costs in 1998 (The New York Times, page 1). __Corporate America's 3-year winning streak in the war on health-care costs may be coming to an end. Since 1994, the migration of the nation's work force into managed-care plans has enabled employers to hold the annual growth of their medical costs below 3 percent -- less than the overall inflation rate and a stunning accomplishment after a decade of annual increases of as much as 19 percent (The Wall Street Journal, page B1). U.S. workers average 39.2 hours a week, excluding overtime. European nations with longer average work weeks are listed in a USA Today a January 20, page B1 graph. Workers in Great Britain, for example, put in a 43.6 hour week, and Portugal workers, a 41.9 hour week. Policy makes at the Federal Reserve say they believe the economy is finely balanced between health growth and inflation, and they are almost certain to leave interest rates unchanged when they meet early next month to consider monetary policy for the first time in l997. But in interviews and in speeches, governors and several of the regional Federal Reserve bank presidents suggested that despite the current ideal combination of steady growth, low unemployment and low inflation, they were likely to move swiftly to raise rates if they saw any acceleration in wages or prices later in the year (The New York Times, page D1). __The nation's economy moved into the new year with growing momentum, but little inflation pressure, a survey by the National Association of Business Economists said yesterday. Nearly 58 percent of the 127 association members responding to a survey in December and early January reported increased demand for products and services, up from 42 percent during the July-September quarter (The Washington Times, page B6).
