Employer health care costs rose faster in New York under Obamacare

Laurel Pickering, president and chief executive of the Northeast Business Group on Health, which represents employers, attributed the more rapid growth in employers’ costs to higher costs of care in New York and rising drug costs.

To combat escalating health care costs, local employers are shifting expenses to employees through high-deductible plans, and investing more in health management programs that aim to keep workers’ chronic illnesses in check, Pickering said.