J.R. Childress is up before the sun, bustling about in the French colonial brick house he built.Indiana ranks second in a new national comparison of health insurance premium increases and wage increases. Only Michigan residents have had it worse in the past decade, an advocacy group said Wednesday.
Average premiums for family health insurance coverage more than doubled in Indiana from 2000 to 2009, according to a study released Wednesday. Meanwhile, median wages in Indiana increased by about 15 percent.
By comparing the two, a non-profit organization found health insurance premium costs have risen 7.8 times faster than wages in Indiana.
Families USA, a Washington-based non-partisan, non-profit organization, gathered data from federal government sources.
The consumer advocacy group, which has scheduled data releases from two or three states each day from mid-August through mid-September, had not provided Michigan’s or Ohio’s results as of Wednesday.
Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, said “the amazing part” is families received less benefit while paying more. Deductibles and co-pays have increased while the number of services covered has decreased, he said during a conference call.
“Rising health care costs threaten families’ well-being here in Indiana and across the nation,” he said.
Indiana’s performance was dismal for two reasons, Pollack said. Premium costs rose rapidly, but earnings growth was more sluggish than in many other states, he said.
The biggest burden for family health insurance coverage fell on employers, who pay a portion of coverage in addition to the premiums their workers pay.
Pollack said average wages might have increased more if employers hadn’t been forced to allocate so much more money to health coverage.
Families USA pointed to four primary factors driving skyrocketing premiums: more demand for health care services; lack of “necessary oversight” to protect consumers; insurance company consolidation that has created near monopolies; and cost-shifting from those without insurance coverage to those who have it.
The consumer protection group is using data from its study to bolster its argument that federal officials need to overhaul the national health care system.
“The health reform legislation that is currently pending in the House and the Senate would address each of these four factors, reducing the rate of increase in premiums and helping make coverage more affordable for all,” it said.
