Construction Industry Faces New Dilemma: Good Health Painful Choices
Covering workers medical needs without breaking the bottom line has become almost as tough for engineers, contractors and union leaders as the construction projects they design, build and manage.
National surveys trumpet huge cost increases in drugs and hospital visits, in premiums and co-pays for workers and in overall costs that employers now subsidize to fulfill a traditional obligation to their inhouse work forces and to their collective bargaining agreements. "Each year we age, the cost of drugs goes up 3%," says John Fortin, Atlanta-based national practice leader of health care cost management for insurance broker Willis Group Holdings. "Venture capitalists are pouring money into health care. Theres new technology but its extraordinarily expensive."