Employer Family Health Premiums Rise 4 Percent to $17,545 in 2015, Extending a Decade-Long Trend of Relatively Moderate Increases
Kaiser Family Foundation, September 22, 2015
Single and family premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance rose an average of 4 percent this year, continuing a decade-long period of moderate growth, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation/Health Research & Educational Trust (HRET) 2015 Employer Health Benefits Survey released today.
The average annual premium for single coverage is $6,251, of which workers on average pay $1,071. The average family premium is $17,545, with workers on average contributing $4,955.
The survey also finds that 81 percent of covered workers are in plans with a general annual deductible, which average $1,318 for single coverage this year. Covered workers in smaller firms (three to 199 workers) face an average deductible of $1,836 this year. That’s 66 percent more than the $1,105 average deductible facing covered workers at large firms (at least 200 workers).
Since 2010, both the share of workers with deductibles and the size of those deductibles have increased sharply. These two trends together result in a 67 percent increase in deductibles since 2010, much faster than the rise in single premiums (24%) and about seven times the rise in workers’ wages (10%) and general inflation (9%).
“With deductibles rising so much faster than premiums and wages, it’s no surprise that consumers have not felt the slowdown in health spending,” Foundation President and CEO Drew Altman said.
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Comment:
By Don McCanne, MD
For Quote of the Day subscribers who go straight to the comment (and many of you do), today’s message is presented instantly in a single visual – merely click on the link above and check out the graph accompanying the news release.
In words, the graph shows that, for the past five years, inflation is flat, workers earnings are flat, employer-sponsored health insurance premiums are continuing to increase, and health insurance deductibles are skyrocketing!
That explains why so many patients with “good” employer-sponsored health plans feel that health care costs are out of control, even though we’re told they’re not – their deductibles have increased at seven times the rate of increase in their wages!
We have the wrong model of health care financing in the United States. We need single payer.