Employer Health Benefits Report by the Kaiser Foundation

The following is a summary of the Kaiser Foundation 2010 report that shows the average cost of employer sponsored insurance programs in the US.  for a copy of the complete report click here

The jest of the report is that Health Care Insurance continues to rise at an alarming rate.  Since 2000 the average cost of family coverage have increased 114%.  It also shows a 147% increase in employee contribution. I expect it to rise another 10 to 20% or more in 2011.  This is the problem with the health care delivery.  This is employer sponsored programs, and does not include individual programs.  So what does this tell us, it tell's us we need to find an alternative way to protect our family's.

Another words you are going to be paying an average out of your salary of $3997.00 a year or $333.00 a month so you can pay a co-pay of  $25 to $35 to see a doctor. If you have the Direct Concepts Healthcare program you would pay $88.00 per month plus $60 to $70 for the office visit for a total of $158.00 for that month as compared to paying $368.00 with your insurance plan.  Could you use an extra $200.00 a month of expendable income.  You could take $100.00 of that and put it into a savings account each month and have that for when you do need to go to the doctor.  and still have an extra $100.00 dollars per month in your pocket.

I hope what I having been writing about in my blog these last few week is starting to make sense to everyone.  Sometimes I feel like John the Baptist felt, a voice crying out in the wilderness.  But I am so passionate about this that I will keep truing to help people understand what is going on with our health care in this Country.

HEALTH INSURANCE PREMIUMS AND WORKER CONTRIBUTIONS
The average annual premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance in 2010 are $5,049 for single coverage and $13,770 for family coverage. Compared to 2009, premiums for single coverage are 5% higher ($4,824) and premiums for family coverage are 3% higher ($13,375). Since 2000, average premiums for family coverage have increased 114% (Exhibit A). Average premiums for family coverage are lower for workers in small firms (3–199 workers) than for workers in large firms (200 or more workers) ($13,250 vs. $14,038). Average premiums for high-deductible health plans with a savings option (HDHP/SOs) are lower than the overall average for all plan types for both single and family coverage (Exhibit B).
For PPOs, the most common plan type, the average family premium topped $14,000 annually in 2010.
As a result of factors such as benefit differences and geographical cost differences, there is significant variation around the average annual premium. Twenty percent of covered workers are in plans with an annual total premium for family coverage of at least $16,524 (120% of the average premium), while 19% of covered workers are in plans where the family premium is less than $11,016 (80% of the average premium) (Exhibit C).
In 2010, covered workers contributed a greater share of the total premium, a notable change from the steady share workers have paid on average over the last decade. Covered workers on average contribute 19% of the total premium for single coverage (up from 17% in 2009) and 30% for family coverage (up from 27% in 2009). As with total premiums, the premium shares contributed by workers vary considerably around these averages. For single coverage, 28% of workers pay more than 25% of the total premium while 16% make no contribution.
Fifty-one percent of workers with family coverage pay more than 25% of the total premium; only 5% make no contribution (Exhibit D).
 
Looking at dollar amounts, the average annual worker contributions are $899 for single coverage and $3,997 for family coverage, up from $779 and $3,515 respectively in 2009.

2. Workers in small firms (3–199 workers) contribute about the same amount for single coverage as workers in large firms (200 or more workers) ($865 vs. $917), but they contribute significantly more for family coverage ($4,665 vs. $3,652).