US healthcare costs expected to rise 7.5% in 2013

How is it possible to keep increasing like this when inflation is a fraction of this and worker pay is not growing at the same rate? The insurance industry continues to enjoy a privileged position where it wins no matter what is happening with the economy.
It always comes back to the need for a public option in order to restore real price competition in the market. The insurance industry hates competition and capitalism, they will never allow it.

This is nuts.

The cost of healthcare services is expected to rise 7.5 percent in 2013, more than three times the projected rates for inflation and economic growth, according to an industry research report released on Thursday.

But premiums for large employer-sponsored health plans could increase by only 5.5 percent as a result of company wellness programs and a growing trend toward plans that impose higher insurance costs on workers, said the report by the professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, or PwC.

The projected growth rate of 7.5 percent for overall healthcare costs contrasts with expectations for growth of 2.4 percent in gross domestic product and a 2.0 percent rise in consumer prices during 2013, according to the latest Reuters economic survey.