A new national study shows that healthcare premiums went up modestly nationwide this year. But as Jeff Cohen reports, the rise in premiums still outpaces increases in both inflation and wages. The study was conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust. It shows that annual premiums for employer-sponsored family health coverage reached nearly $16,000 this year -- up four percent over last year. Workers pay on average about a quarter of that.
Drew Altman is Kaiser's president.
"Four percent is a low increase and it is good news."
Altman says he remembers years of double-digit increases, and he wonders what is at the heart of the relatively small annual increase in healthcare costs now.
"Is this mostly the effect of the recession, or is there something in healthcare going on that has helped to hold down costs?"
It's a question he says he doesn't have an answer for yet. The second question he has is this -- will costs go up again as the economy improves and people start to use healthcare more?
"There's just a hint in our survey that premiums could be somewhat higher next year. Certainly, as the economy improves you would expect utilization to tick back up again. But how much higher we don't know and we're just simply going to have to wait and see."
It's too early yet to have data on whether the healthcare reform law known as the Affordable Care Act affects costs -- most of the requirements of the law don't go into place until 2014.
But amidst all the uncertainty, one thing is clear -- the long-term trends don't favor the country's workers.
"Workers' contributions to premiums are up 180 percent since we started this survey in 1999 and their wages are up 47 percent, and that's why what looks like recent moderation to experts doesn't always feel that way to working people."
You can read the full report at Kaiser's website, kff dot org.
For WNPR, I'm Jeff Cohen.
