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Survey: Health Care Premiums Soar for Many Employees
As the economy sputters and many firms struggle to keep their health benefits, the news officially became even bleaker on Tuesday: Premiums for employer-sponsored health coverage shot up 9 percent last year. That's significantly more than the average increase in wages, according to a new survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research & Education Trust.
The typical premium for an American family now comes to $15,073 -- with workers paying $4,129 of that amount and employers covering the rest. The average rate for an individual reached $5,429 annually, with workers paying $921 toward the coverage. 
In the past decade, premiums have increased 113 percent, while workers' wages and inflation have only risen 34 percent and 27 percent, respectively. (photo: M.V. Jantzen)
The premium hike this year -- triple what it was in 2010 -- towers above a 2.1 percent rise in wages and 3.2 percent jump in inflation.
While significant, the news is a continuation of a long-standing trend. In the past decade, premiums have increased 113 percent, while workers' wages and inflation have only risen 34 percent and 27 percent, respectively.
The survey -- considered a gold standard for tracking employer-based insurance numbers -- also found that American companies added 2.3 million young adults to their parents' family health insurance policies as a result of the health reform overhaul.
Also significant: This year, nearly a third of workers (31 percent) have health plans with deductibles of $1,000 or more. Twelve percent of those same individuals have deductibles of $2,000 or more. In small firms, a full half face deductibles topping $1,000.
The upswing in high deductibles comes in part from a rising number of employers offering "consumer-driven plans" with tax-preferred savings options such as Health Savings Accounts or Health Reimbursement Arrangements. The number of employees opting for the plans increased from 8 percent in 2009 to 17 percent in 2011.
This is the 13th year Kaiser and HRET have conducted the Employer Health Benefits Survey, which aims to paint a "detailed picture of trends in private health insurance costs and coverage."
17 Comments so far
Show Allplant a tree! plant ground cover! plant a variety of bushes, shrubs, flowers, fruits and vegetables! we should not expect a vibrant, healthy community to thrive in a sick environment.
yep, plant a tree!
a universal healthcare plan!
Some Americans are so clueless about health "care" here. An idiot I know who pays insurance premiums had an expensive surgery; her "out of pocket" expenses cost her $2,000-- and she said "Thank God for insurance." What are the "out of pocket" expenses for people in countries with universal health care? How much are their copays and deductibles?
Yours reminds me of a similar incident I witnessed recently. I was at the local pharmacy waiting in line when a woman who was picking up medication for an elder parent complained as she was leaving with "if this is what I have to pay with insurance, I don't want to see what I'll have to pay when we get socialized healthcare" - Ha! This being the Buybull Belt and all, I had to refrain as I have already been chased from more than one local establishment by a good Christian mob with pitchforks and all. He he he... If only Amerikan ignorance could be packaged and sold on the world market as a commodity we could all be millionaires.
Uh...the wsws.org already did a story about this....about four months ago.
AlanWatts4Ever, this is slightly off topic, but Alan was a friend of mine many years ago. I rarely run across anybody who remembers him or anything about him. Great teacher, neat guy. I have a number of his books in my library.
Well then, health insurance in America is working just as it's supposed to.
We're supposed to be surprised about this?
Sheesh. Just wait till everyone is forced to buy it.
No home, no job, but health insurance premiums jumping 40% every year.
Even with gov't subsidies, where they gonna get the money?
Raise corporate taxes? Ha.
The design of Obamacare is to bust us.
Here's the good news (if there is any in this nightmare), people who have no homes, no jobs and no health insurance also don't pay taxes. See how that works? 1% of the population not paying taxes hurts the rest but 99% of the population not paying taxes makes a country collapse. Besides, this shit ain't gonna make it to 2014.
This is deadly news - for Americas Senators and Congressmen.
Only Medicare for All can save them.
How much of this is due to the fact that health care can't be outsourced? Many people working in the health care industry are making an "American" wage while many workers find themselves competing with third-world off-shore wages. We can make less expensive phones overseas but health care lives here (until we start shipping people off-shore for treatment.)
At some point, do we need to look at government employees and health care workers and see them as what we're losing rather than trying to drag them along in the race to the bottom?
I realize it's a complicated issue but isn't one aspect the widening gulf between a living wage and a wage insufficient to afford health care? In other words, are premiums going up or is our ability to pay them just going down?
Huh?
Huh?
Of all the ills facing the American populace today, this is by far, the easiest to fix. All the people have to do is simply drop the damn insurance. When they get sick, haul ass to the nearest emergency room and stand in line. It won't be long before the lines wrap around from coast to coast and the insurance companies are filling bankruptcy. I'm willing to bet that within 6 months, Universal Healthcare is back on the table and all the Congresswhore are tripping over each other to pass it in the hopes of throwing a bone to their corporate masters. I've always contended that Americans get what Americans deserve and this proves it.
It doesn’t work that way Rev. Health care providers take financial information from you. If you have X amount of net assets (like home equity) then it’s not free. You actually sign an agreement to pay all bills before they will even treat you. If you don't want to pay, they can LEGALLY refuse service.
Emergency rooms are the one place that cannot refuse to treat you, but if you refuse to pay afterwards, then they put a lien on you. (In every case, whether private or public health care, you must have low assets to get services free.) Bill collectors and lawyers mass against you in collection efforts if you don’t pay. Their costly fees get added to the bills. Foreclosure proceedings on your home begins. Garnishments on your wages begins.
Medical bankruptcy is now 3 MILLION times a year! Trillions for war. Eat shit for us
Seem to me the passivity of so many 'mericuns accepting their status as victims in a health care economy controlled by sociopaths is a sign of mass mental illness.
Maybe we should start fighting just for single payer mental heath care, first -- and then see what happens if and when we get it.
Add me to the list. My private policy (self employed) rose to $708.42/month with a $5,000 deductible. Breast cancer diagnosis 2.5 years ago. I don't need to draw much of a picture after that. I dropped the policy -- was either take out a home equity loan to pay for it or drop it. (You know...die homeless or die, pick one).
I always say had the good nuns known there was a profit to be made in "taking care of the sick" they'd never have gotten out of the health care business. Oh wait, they didn't look at it as a business did they...just as something humane as preached by that fellow Jesus of Nazareth.
"Oh wait, they didn't look at it as a business did they...just as something humane as preached by that fellow Jesus of Nazareth."--Joanne Boyer
"Maybe we should start fighting just for single payer mental heath care, first--"--dmuir
one of those now passé tidbits of elder wisdom from granny's treasure chest, "if you have to choose between health and wealth, choose health!" our problem in debating health issues with insurance companies is we the people and citizens united do not even speak the same language. health to an insurance company or big pharma is defined simply as profits-$$$$. we make a mistake to presume that such a humane goal as protecting the client's health is a high priority for insurers. sure, promoting that "you're in good hands" image plays into the profit goal in attracting new customers. check out whistle blower, windell potter, if you haven't already.
most of our congressional representatives, uh--"leaders" also speak the alien language of the non-living entity. well, that's pretty much a prerequisite for getting ones name on a ballot. yes, it's an insane situation! hard as we air-breathers try we cannot reason with insanity. it's just crazy to keep trying!
You can lay this at Obama's feet. His negotiating failure of giving up universal care, let alone single payer, before it was even on the table left the insurance companies with the potential (which they will not fail to exploit) of universal premiums, unrestrained by anti-trust rules. This will be coupled with limited coverage and massive co-pays since they will be able to dictate terms of coverage. The only solution is to remove the anti-trust exemptions that the insurance industry has been granted. They must be forced to compete for consumers' business. Let the market determine the premium. The Republicans can't be opposed to that, can they?