What’s Ahead in 2008 Concerning Employee Benefits

8. Increased patient participation in making health care decisions. If there is one word to describe a broad-range of trends in health care, it’s transparency, and the driving force is the Internet. A report by researchers at Bryant University in Rhode Island showed in 2004, 82 percent of women and 75 percent of men used the Internet for health information. Going forward, expect the public to demand more information from providers such as Internet access to hospital and physician ratings.

Clearly, health care costs will be a chief concern in the year ahead and long after. It’s equally clear Americans are taking responsibility for their health and retirement—two issues so closely intertwoven they are, for all intents and purposes, inseparable.

By David A. Proctor

David A. Proctor is president of Proctor & Company, a Natick, Massachusetts-based employee benefits firm founded in 1985. A Chartered Life Underwriter, he also holds Chartered Financial Consultant and Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter designations. He is a graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and has an MBA in Insurance from Boston University. He can be contacted at (508) 651-7777 or dproctor@proctorandcompany.com. The company website is proctorandcompany.com.