General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAnnual health insurance costs hit record high above $20,000
The cost of family health coverage in the U.S. now tops $20,000, an annual survey of employers found, a record high that has pushed an increasing number of American workers into plans that cover less or cost more, or force them out of the insurance market entirely.
Its as much as buying a basic economy car, said Drew Altman, chief executive officer of the Kaiser Family Foundation, but buying it every year. The nonprofit health research group conducts the yearly survey of coverage that people get through work, the main source of insurance in the U.S. for people under age 65.
While employers pay most of the costs of coverage, according to the survey, workers average contribution is now $6,000 for a family plan. Thats just their share of upfront premiums, and doesnt include co-payments, deductibles and other forms of cost-sharing once they need care.
The seemingly inexorable rise of costs has led to deep frustration with U.S. health care, prompting questions about whether a system where coverage is tied to a job can survive. As premiums and deductibles have increased in the last two decades, the percentage of workers covered has slipped as employers dropped coverage and some workers chose not to enroll. Fewer Americans under 65 had employer coverage in 2017 than in 1999, according to a separate Kaiser Family Foundation analysis of federal data. Thats despite the fact that the U.S. economy employed 17 million more people in 2017 than in 1999.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/healthcare/annual-health-insurance-costs-hit-record-high-above-dollar20000/ar-AAHPRKp
Voltaire2
(12,958 posts)with, in general, shittier high deductible plans.
This is the crap system half of us here seem to think is marvelous and needs to be preserved.
We need to abolish employer based insurance and replace it with a universal system everyone is in from the day they are born until the day they die.
JCMach1
(27,553 posts)For many of us, it is unaffordable