Powered by Blogger.

Blog Archive

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

By Cornelius Nunev


The Kaiser Family Foundation has found a rise in premiums for family health insurance occurred. However, the increase was reasonable when compared with recent years, as double-digit price increases has been the norm for a while.

Paying too much for health insurance

The family value for a family of four is $15,745, according to Daily Finance. Those most people would not actually refer to numbers when thinking about the value of a family, apparently a number can be attached.

A recent survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation points out that it is the same cost as medical insurance for a family of four with two kids and two adults. That is really costly considering it is enough cash to buy a brand new car every year. It is a ridiculously absurd amount to spend on medical insurance.

There is some good news, though, in that the increase over last year was moderate, at only 4 percent. In 2011, the same survey, which is compiled annually, found a 9 percent increase over 2010.

Cost higher for lower income

The yearly survey done by Kaiser will show up in the "Health Affairs" journal.

Though the overall cost has gone up, the cost of family medical insurance falls mostly on the shoulders of companies. The average employer contribution was $11,429 of the $15,745 total, whereas the worker contribution was $4,316. However, employee-only plan increased only 3 percent, to $5,615, with an employee contribution of $950.

That has increased substantially since 2002, according to CNN, when the average family insurance premium was $8,003. In that year, average employer contribution was $5,866 and the average employee contribution was $2,137. However, adjusted for inflation, $8,003 works out to $10,192, so the cost has increased in real and nominal terms.

Rates are also more costly for lower-wage employees, according to CNN, as workers of businesses where at least 35 percent of employees make $24,000 or less per year typically pay $1,000 more than at companies where at least 35 percent of workers make $55,000 per year or more.

Faster than inflation

Deductibles have also increased. According to the New York Times, roughly half of all plans have deductibles of $1,000 or more, compared to 21 percent in 2007.

The cost of health care rates have increased 172 percent since 1999, and employee contributions have seen 180 percent increases since that time, according to the Washington Post. During the same time, inflation increased 38 percent and wages increased 47 percent. That means that health care costs are increasing higher than can be managed and easily too.




About the Author:



0 comments:

Post a Comment