(Thomson Reuters: Ann Arbor, MI) -- Health care spending is 10-percent higher for hospital employees than it is for the general employee population, according to a recent study by the health care business of Thomson Reuters.

The gap is wider when employees’ dependents are factored in. The cost of health care for hospital workers and family members covered by their health insurance is 13-percent higher than average.

In addition to using more health care services, hospital employees and their dependents also were found to be less healthy. They had an 8.6-percent greater illness burden than the U.S. workforce at large and were more likely to be diagnosed with chronic medical conditions including asthma, diabetes, congestive heart failure, HIV, hypertension, and mental illness.

The research also found that hospital workers and their families had fewer physician office visits, yet were 22-percent more likely to visit the emergency room.

 …