Squeezed: How Costs for Insuring Families are Outpacing Income: A State-By-State Analysis

Publication Date: April 2008

Publisher: State Health Access Data Assistance Center; Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Author(s): University of Minnesota State Health Access Data Assistance Center

Research Area: Health

Type: Report

Abstract:

This article reveals how the cost of family health insurance nationwide is increasing dramatically for employees without anywhere near an equivalent increase in family income. If this trend continues, more workers are likely to become uninsured because of the expense.

As part of Cover the Uninsured Week (April 27–May 3), the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation commissioned the University of Minnesota to prepare this comprehensive state-by-state analysis on the cost of family health insurance premiums as compared to income. The researchers used data from ongoing federal surveys of individuals and employers to examine trends in employer-sponsored health insurance coverage, premiums and offer rates across all 50 states and the District of Columbia. They collected additional data on offer rates from the federal Medical Expenditure Panel Survey-Insurance Component.

Key Findings:

* The amount workers pay for family coverage nationwide has increased by 30 percent from $8,281 in 2001 to $10,728 in 2005.
* Employee income has increased by only 3 percent in the same time period.
* The average cost employers pay for their share of family coverage has increased by 28 percent from $6,360 to $8,143.

Seventy-six percent of insured individuals in the United States receive health insurance from their own or a family member's employer. It follows that the more employees and employers have to pay for that insurance, the more likely workers are to join the ranks of the uninsured. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, M.D., M.B.A, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation stated in a press release, "This study makes plain what every working parent knows—that providing insurance coverage takes a bigger bite from the family budget every year."