The Kaiser Family Foundation has published their “Employer Health Benefits 2004 Annual Survey.” Here are some interesting items in the report:
(1) Employer-sponsored health insurance premiums increased an average of 11.2% in 2004 — the fourth consecutive year of double-digit increases.
(2) Some slight good news–this was a decrease from last year’s average premium increase of 13.9%.
(3) However, since 2000, premiums for family coverage have increased by 59%, compared with inflation growth of 9.7% and wage growth of 12.3%.
(4) Workers on average contribute $558 of the $3,695 annual cost of single coverage and $2,661 of the $9,950 annual cost of family coverage toward premiums.
(5) Employers offering health benefits continue to vary substantially by firm size: only 52% of the smallest companies (3-9 workers) offer health benefits, while 74% of firms with 10-24 workers, and 87% of firms with 25-49 workers, and nearly all firms with 50 or more workers offer health benefits. Employers offering worker health benefits in 2004 decreased to 63% from 68% in 2001.
Here is a compilation of response to the data from Kaiser’s Daily Health Report:
Altman said, “There is a great sense that there is just no answer to this problem” (Vrana, Los Angeles Times, 9/10). The issue of increasing health costs is “a persistent and long-term problem that has no simple fixes,” HRET President Mary Pittman said. She added, “There’s an elephant in the middle of the room, and we cannot afford any longer to ignore it” (Atlanta Journal Constitution, 9/10). Kate Sullivan Hare, health policy director for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said, “There just aren’t that many options left for small business. When you’re a small business and you’ve got a $30,000-a-year employee, you just can’t afford to spend $10,000 on health coverage” (Baltimore Sun, 9/10).
Also, the Wall Street Journal reports that the “cost of family health insurance is rapidly approaching the gross earnings of a full-time minimum-wage worker.” (“Health-Care Costs For Companies, Employees Surge.”)