Report examines rising health care, coverage costs

A study released earlier this summer by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius explored cost increases that are impeding access to care. The report, "Hidden Costs of Health Care: Why Americans are Paying More but Getting Less," documents the risking costs of deductibles, co-payments and out-of-pocket expenses.

"It doesn't matter if you have insurance or not: When Americans go to the hospital or the doctor's office, they are paying more and getting less," Sebelius said in a news release.

"Every year, co-pays, deductibles and other expenses are taking a bigger bite out of the family budget and the American people are demanding reform."

Among the report's findings:

• In 2006, a person with employer-based coverage paid an average of $1,522 on health care - not including premiums - compared to $1,260 in 2001. Including the costs of higher premiums, out-of-pocket costs jumped 30 percent to $3,744 in the same five-year period.

• Premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance premiums have nearly doubled since 2000, a rate that is three times faster than wages. In 2008, the average premium for a family plan purchased through an employer was $12,680, nearly the annual earnings of a full-time minimum wage job.

• For preferred provider organization plans purchased through employers, the average family deductible grew 30 percent to $1,344 in just two years, though in smaller firms, that increase reached as much as 64 percent.

The report also found that in 2002, only one in five people with employer-based health coverage had co-payments of more than $25, but by 2008, that number was one in three. "Millions of Americans don't have insurance, and millions more are still struggling to afford the care they need," Sebelius added. "We need to pass health reform this year to give these families the relief they need."[[In-content Ad]]