Large firms' retiree health benefits before Medicare reform: 2003 survey results.

This survey of large, private-sector employers offering retiree health benefits in 2003 provides a detailed baseline of private retiree health plans on the eve of the most sweeping changes to Medicare since its enactment. Total retiree health costs rose 13.7 percent in 2003, and average retiree contributions to premiums for employees age sixty-five and older retiring in 2003 rose 18 percent.