The cost of health insurance continues to outpace any increase in wages employees might be receiving, which means healthcare is eating up even more of the income people are bringing home every week, concludes another depressing study.
This study, conducted by the Commonwealth Fund, revealed that when adding the cost of premiums and the average deductible for an employee’s healthcare plan together, it totaled 12% of the average employee’s income in 2017. Premiums accounted for 6.9% of an employee’s income, up from 5.1% a decade ago, and deductibles ate up another 4.8%, up from 2.7% a decade ago. In 18 states, the cost of premiums and deductibles were at least 12% of the average employee’s wage, and in no state was the total lower than 7.8%, according to the study.
The average deductible was $1,808 in 2017, with residents of Hawaii, Alabama, the District of Columbia, and Arkansas paying the lowest amounts, and residents of Maine, New Hampshire, Montana, Texas, and Tennessee paying the most.
What makes the situation even worse is that even though people are paying more for healthcare, the quality of care they are receiving is not improving, the study concluded.
“Families’ costs for employer health insurance are rising faster than median income,” according to the report. “Moreover, even as costs climb, many families aren’t receiving higher-quality insurance. The amount they have to spend out of pocket before their insurance coverage kicks in also continues to climb.”
