21 Aug, 2009 in Health and Pharmacy News by admin

Without Reform, U.S. Health Costs Expected to Rise

THURSDAY, Aug. 20 (HealthDay News) — From 1999 to 2008, family premiums for Americans with employer-sponsored health insurance increased 119 percent as well as could rise another 94 percent, to an average of $23,842 by 2020, incase health-care costs continue to increase at current rates, a report released Thursday shows.

The Commonwealth Fund paper as well as concluded that national reforms that limit health-care cost increases by 1 percent to 1.5 percent per year would lead to major savings for families as well as businesses. For example, slowing the annual rate of health spending growth by 1 percent would achieve more than $2,500 in lower family premiums, as well as reducing the rate of growth by 1.5 percent would lead to more than $3,700 in premium savings compared to current trends.

“With health spending projected to double incase we stay on our current path, middle- as well as lower-income families are at high risk of losing their coverage or facing long-term stagnant incomes,” study author Cathy Shoen, senior vice president of the Commonwealth Fund, said in a news release. “Employers as well as employees share premium costs, but we know that take-home pay as well as retirement savings are being sacrificed to maintain health benefits. Reforms that unhurried the growth of health-care costs could go a extended way toward health as well as financial stability for working families.”

The Commonwealth Fund is a intimate foundation that supports independent research on health issues.

A state-by-state analysis revealed that employer-based premiums for family coverage increased an average of 33 percent between 2003 as well as 2008, ranging from a abridged of 25 percent in Michigan, Texas as well as Ohio to a high of 45 percent in Indiana as well as North Carolina.

In 2008, family premiums were highest in Indiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota as well as Recent Hampshire, with the highest premium being more than $13,500. The lowest average premiums — around $11,000 — were in Idaho, Iowa as well as Hawaii.

“These rapid premium increases aren’t sustainable for families or employers,” Commonwealth Fund President Karen Davis said in the news release. “If we craft patient-centered reform that focuses on improving quality as well as efficiency, as well as bending the cost curve, the insured in every state stand to benefit. We could assure coverage as well as, over time, make more money available for wages, retirement as well as other family needs.”

– Robert Preidt

SOURCE: The Commonwealth Fund, news release, Aug. 20, 2009

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