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Group Health Insurance Costs Go Up, While Health Care Coverage Goes Down
September 2008
The annual Kaiser Family Foundation's Employer Health Benefits survey found this week that group health insurance costs, like most insurance costs, went up about 5% in the last year.
And while this doesn't sound catastrophic, the same study found that even with this smaller increase health care costs are almost double what they were ten years ago; and as costs go up, coverage is also going down.
In fact, nearly one out of four American families says that paying for health care and insurance has become a "serious problem."
Furthermore, people are getting less insurance for their dollar. Most people get their coverage through group health insurance plans offered by an employer. In order to offset the rising costs of insurance, many employers are still offering coverage, but it's coverage that doesn't provide the same benefits that it used to.
Last year, 12% of workers had deductibles of at least $1,000, and this year that number also went up, to about 18% or more.
To deal with costs many employers have reported that they are considering even more increases in the amounts that their employees are paying for health care, or to increase deductibles and co-pays. Neither of these options bodes well for the American worker.
The best means of finding a good group health insurance policy is to shop around, and to offer employees different options when it comes time to choose their health care coverage. This way, those younger and healthier employees can go with the higher deductibles, while older employees, or those with health conditions, can opt to pay more for better coverage.
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