High Cost Plans Drag Averages Up

• Data compiled by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality sheds light on the actual experience of workers. According to AHQR, the average employee paid roughly $3,400 per year for family coverage in 2008. But the median was significantly lower. Half of all workers paid less than $3,400 for family coverage. About 25 percent of workers with family coverage paid less than $1,700 for family coverage. On the other side, about 25 percent of employees paid more than $4,400 per year. High cost plans drag the average cost up.
  
  

State Level

• The AHRQ data also shows significant variation among states. In Arkansas and Oklahoma, about half of all workers paid less than $2,900. In Alaska, half of all employees paid more than $4,200, while in Vermont, half paid more than $4,000.
  
  

Rising Percentage

• According to the Kaiser Health Foundation, health insurance premiums increased at a rate faster than inflation between 1999 and 2010. Employer costs in that time period rose by 114 percent, while employee costs rose by 147 percent. In 1999, a worker with family coverage paid 27 percent of the cost of an insurance premium. In 2010, that figure had risen to 30 percent. The percentage of premiums paid by single workers rose from 14 percent to 19 percent in that same time period.
  
  

Higher Out-of-Pocket Costs

• Between 1999 and 2010, insurance premiums have risen for companies, and the companies began pushing a higher percentage of costs onto employees. Health insurance plans have also changed course, allowing employees to face higher out-of-pocket costs. In 2010, about 27 percent of workers were on plans with deductibles above $1,000, the amount of money a patient pays for medical services in a year before insurance begins to pay. In 2008, that figure stood at 18 percent.