Employers' health costs still zooming, just not as quickly.Employer-sponsored health insurance premiums once again grew by a declining rate in 2007, but continued to outpace out·pace tr.v. out·paced, out·pac·ing, out·pac·es To surpass or outdo (another), as in speed, growth, or performance. outpace Verb [-pacing, both wages and general inflation, a new study published in the journal Health Affairs concludes. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. the 2007 Employer Health Benefits Survey, sponsored annually by the Kaiser Family Foundation The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), or just Kaiser Family Foundation, is a U.S.-based non-profit, private operating foundation headquartered in Menlo Park, California. and Health Research and Educational Trust, the average annual premium for family coverage under an employer-sponsored policy is $12,106 this year, with a typical worker contribution of $3,281 toward the premium. For firms with fewer than 200 employees, workers contributed $4,236 on average for family coverage, compared with $2,831 for employees of larger firms. For single coverage, average employee contributions were actually greater at large firms, averaging $759, than at smaller firms, where they averaged $561. In a statement, Kaiser President Drew E. Altman Alt·man , Robert Born 1925. American film director and screenwriter whose film credits include M*A*S*H (1970), for which he won an Academy Award, and The Player (1992). said the amount employees contribute for family policy premiums has increased roughly $1,500 over the past six years. Health premiums rose an average 6.1%, compared with 7.7% in 2006. It was the fourth consecutive year the survey found a declining rate of increase, and marked the slowest premium growth since the 5.3% increase in 1999. Kaiser said the 2007 increase more than doubled the 2.6% overall inflation rate and the 3.7% growth in workers' wages. The survey said premiums have risen 78% since 2001, while wages have risen 19% and inflation has grown just 17%. America's Health Insurance Plans, the trade group for the health insurance industry, saw the moderation trend as a silver lining silver lining n. A hopeful or comforting prospect in the midst of difficulty. [From the proverb "Every cloud has a silver lining". that demonstrates the industry's focus on containing costs. It cited a study by PricewaterhouseCoopers that said tiered tier 1 n. 1. One of a series of rows placed one above another: a stadium with four tiers of seats. 2. A rank or class. tr. & intr.v. prescription drug prescription drug Prescription medication Pharmacology An FDA-approved drug which must, by federal law or regulation, be dispensed only pursuant to a prescription–eg, finished dose form and active ingredients subject to the provisos of the Federal Food, Drug, formularies are instrumental in controlling drug costs. According to 2007 statistics compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau Noun 1. Census Bureau - the bureau of the Commerce Department responsible for taking the census; provides demographic information and analyses about the population of the United States Bureau of the Census , the percentage of Americans covered by employment-based health insurance fell from 60.2% in 2005 to 59.7% in 2006. The number of Americans without health insurance coverage rose to a record 47 million in 2006.
Going Up
Average annual firm and worker premium contributions
for covered workers for single and family coverage,
by plan type, 2007
Worker Contribution Firm Contribution
HMO Single $711 $3,588
Family $3,311 $8,568
PPO Single $717 $3,290
Family $3,236 $9,207
POS Single $628 $3,709
Family $3,659 $7,929
HDHP/ Single $522 $3,347
SO Family $2,856 $7,837
ALL Single $694 $3,785
PLANS Family $3,281 $8,824
Note: Table made from bar graph.
Cost of Health Care
Average annual worker premium contributions and
total premiums for covered workers, single and
family coverage, by firm size, 2007
All Small Firms All Large Firms
(3-199 Workers) (200+ Workers)
Single Coverage
Premium $4,553 $4,442
Worker
Contribution * $561 $759
Family Coverage
Premium $11,835 $12,233
Worker
Contribution * $4,236 $2,831
* Estimates are statistically different between All Small
Firms and All Large Firms (p<.05).
Source: Kaiser/HRET Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health
Benefits, 2007.
Note: Table made from bar graph.
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion