Will the Cost of Health Insurance Eventually Eat Up Your Entire Paycheck? Study Says Yes. (Time)

A study conducted by Richard A. Young and Jennifer E. DeVoe concludes that the cost of health insurance for a typical American family will cost more than that household’s income by 2033. The study says that from 2000 to 2009, the average annual increase in insurance premiums was 8%; household incomes rose an average of 2.1%. If premiums and national wages continue to grow at current rates, and the US health system makes no structural changes, the average cost of a family health insurance premium will equal 50% of the household income by 2021, and surpass it by 2033. In another study, researchers equipped 26,000 previously uninsured Richmond, Va., residents with health care plans and tracked them between 2006 and 2007. In the end, they found the participants cut health care costs by 50 percent with fewer emergency room visits and more access to preventive health care.