Dec. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Over the next decade, we are likely
to see a shift in health insurance in the U.S.: So-called
defined-contribution plans will gradually take over the market,
shifting the residual risk of incurring high health-care costs
from employers to workers.
The market today is dominated by “defined-benefit” plans,
under which companies determine a set of health-insurance
benefits that are provided for employees. These will gradually
be replaced by defined-contribution plans, under which companies
pay a fixed amount, and employees use the money to buy or help
pay for insurance they choose themselves.
