Podcast Center
Video Center
Webcasts
Resource Center
Events
December 07, 2010 at 07:00 PM
Higher premiums plus higher out-of-pocket costs for health care are putting working families’ budgets under stress across the country, a new report from the Commonwealth Fund, New York, asserts.
Premiums for employer-sponsored family health insurance increased an average of 41% across states from 2003 to 2009, according to a study by the Fund. That rate was more than three times faster than rises in median incomes, the study report points out.
At the same time, insurance appears to be buying less. Deductibles per person rose 77% on average, the Fund found.
If premium costs continue to rise at the pace seen from 2003 to 2009, annual premiums would increase by 79% percent, to an average of $23,342 per family by 2020, according to the report.
If reforms under the Affordable Care Act slow historic premium increases by 1% per year, annual family premiums would be $2,323 lower by 2020, the report projects. Slowing premium growth by 1.5% per year would yield $3,403 in premium savings through payment incentives and delivery system improvements.
