Healthcare costs for employers will cost more than $10,000 on average for 2012, and this means an increase in contributions for workers as well, according to a report from Aon Hewitt.

There will be an average increase of 7 percent for healthcare premium insurance rates in the United States next year. While this is less than the 7.5 percent in 2011, it will put the amount companies have to pay per employee to approximately $10,475, the report noted. This is higher than the 2011 average of $9,792.

"In what continues to be an uncertain economic environment, organizations cannot afford health care costs growing at 7 percent each year," said John Zern, executive vice president and the Americas Practice Director for Health & Benefits with Aon Hewitt. "While health care reform continues to represent potential systemic change in a few years, employers will continue to shift cost to employees in order to keep company costs to a manageable level."

Consumers will have to pay 22 percent of their healthcare premiums, compared to last year's 21.3 percent, the report added. These figures may motivate some consumers to look for new health insurance quotes to lower their costs.

A recent study from the US Oncology Network found that cancer care in the United States could be improved in both cost and quality.

The study, called "Benchmarks for value in cancer care: an analysis of a large commercial population," found that cancer patients who have a private health insurance plan averaged a medical bill of $111,000 annually. This includes chemotherapy, trips to the emergency room as well as end of life care. In total, this costs more than 25 times the amount for non-cancer patients and four times more than cancer patients without chemotherapy.

"This study shows that the cancer care community needs to focus on delivering high-quality, evidence-based medicine with a focus on disease management that emphasizes the importance of advance care planning and end of life support," said Dr. Michael Kolodziej, the lead author of the study and an oncologist with New York Oncology Hematology.

The study found that less than 1 percent of total diagnoses in a total privately-insured population are for cancer, yet it results in 10 percent of the costs, despite much of the treatment being relatively ineffective.

A recent report from S&P Indices showed that the average cost of commercial and Medicare-related care covered by health insurance increased by more than 5.7 percent from July 2010 to July 2011.

The S&P Healthcare Economic Composite Index found that the past three straight months have shown successive increases. April had an increase of 5.34 percent, while May's figure was 5.55 percent and June's was 5.59 percent. The Healthcare Economic Commercial index increased 7.73 percent for the year ending in July 2011, while Medicare claim costs increased 2.35 percent, which was the annual rate.

"Continuing the general trend witnessed since April, July saw some modest acceleration in the annual growth rates in commercial healthcare costs, while there was modest deceleration in Medicare costs," says David Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Indices.

The growth rates in the indices that S&P examined include healthcare cost changes, not only changes in the price of healthcare, Blitzer added.

This information may show that it is important to get multiple health insurance quotes, as consumers who do this may find the best rates available.

A recent Gallup poll found a significant amount of workers are unhappy about the current state of their health insurance benefits, as well as their ability for a promotion.

In total, 30 percent of workers are not satisfied with their current health insurance options provided by their employer. This is an 11 percentage point increase from the same poll taken in 2008, the poll noted. In addition, more than one-quarter of workers think their promotion chances are poor, compared to 19 percent in 2008. Job stress also increased to 34 percent. This was a six percentage point rise.

The Work and Education poll, from Gallup, also found that 35 percent of consumers are completely satisfied with the benefits offered by their company, while another 23 percent were only somewhat satisfied. A total of 12 percent were somewhat dissatisfied, while 18 percent were completely unhappy with their work option.

Many people are dissatisfied with their insurance options, and it may benefit them to look for other healthcare quotes in order to improve their situation.

While many small businesses try to cut corners when it comes to spending, they may be unable to do so when it comes to group health insurance, according to Inc.com.

Many smaller companies may be overpaying for employee health insurance plans by as much as 29 percent, according to a recent report. This may be because these businesses lack access to quality affordable options, the source reports.

This is due in part to search frictions when it comes to health insurance shopping. Companies with fewer employees have less buying power and reduced access to information regarding healthcare plans. This friction causes small businesses to frequently change their insurance packages, perhaps because they are dissatisfied with their options and service, the Incidental Economist explains.

"High turnover rates undermine the quality of health plans by reducing insurers' incentive to finance care that makes their policyholders healthier in the future," said Dr. Randall Cebul, according to Inc.com.

While this may not bode well for companies shopping for employee benefits right now, impending public options may change the situation and create more affordable options to choose from, the source reports.