The weak economy is also contributing to the change. Employers face higher health Care costs, in part, because they are hiring fewer younger, healthy workers and losing fewer more sickly, senior employees. The poor job market also means that employers do not have to be as generous with their benefits to compete. A recent survey shows that policies that impose penalties on workers have doubled in the last two years to 19% of 248 major US employers. Next year, this practice is expected to double again amongst employers with more than 1,000 workers.