Employers shift more health costs to workers

Increasingly, small employers are offering health insurance plans that require workers to pay more for tests, treatments, and doctor visits. An analysis by the Division of Health Care Finance and Policy found that 27 percent of people in Massachusetts who got insurance through the small-group market at the end of 2010 were in a plan with a lower "actuarial value," meaning the deductibles and copayments were among the highest on the market. That was up from 2 percent in the first quarter of 2008. Fifty-five percent of people who bought insurance as individuals at the end of 2010 were in such a plan, up from 48 percent in early 2008.