Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced the results of a study which found that, on average, Americans pay more than $3,700 per year for employer health coverage.
Photo by kfisto via Flickr
Sebelius set her agency’s reform-supporting agenda straight from the start, titling the report: “Hidden Costs of Health Care: Why Americans are Paying More but Getting Less.”
A few highlights:
- Out-of-pocket expenses for employer-based coverage rose 30 percent from 2001 to 2006.
- At $12,680 a year, premiums for such coverage have doubled from 2000 to 2008.
- “In 2004, only one in five people with health insurance through an employer had a co-payment of more than $25, but by 2008 the number jumped to one in three.”
