WASHINGTON ? Premiums were up 4 percent this year for employer-provided family health insurance policies. That?s a significant slowing in the rise of insurance costs, but lower-wage employees are paying a larger share of premiums and more out-of-pocket, the Kaiser Family Health Foundation reported Tuesday (www.kff.org).
The premium increase for individual worker policies averaged 3 percent.
A typical family policy cost $15,745 this year, while individual worker policies averaged $5,615.
Companies traditionally have absorbed most of the cost of these insurance policies.
?While a four percent increase is lower than previous years, it still left health insurance well ahead of compensation (1.7 percent) and inflation (2.5 percent), according to Kaiser and its survey partner, the Health Research & Educational Trust.
At companies where a third or more of employees make less than $24,000 a year, workers pay $1,000 more for family policies than employees at higher-salaried firms. And 44 percent of insured workers at lower-wage firms face deductibles of $1,000 or more, compared to 29 percent of workers at companies where at least a third of the workforce makes $55,000 or more.
The results, from a survey of more than 3,000 companies conducted earlier this year, found most expect next year?s premiums to rise, on average, by 7 percent.
Source: http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/2012/09/health-insurance-premiums-up-4-percent-in-2012.html/
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