Employer Health Insurance Is Increasingly Unaffordable, Study Finds

A study from the Kaiser Family Foundation found insurance premiums and deductibles are making employer-based coverage increasingly unaffordable, reports the New York Times . The average premium paid by employer and employee for a family plan now exceeds $20,000 annually, with the worker contributing about $6,000. More than 25 percent of all covered workers and nearly half of those working for small businesses have a yearly deductible of $2,000 or more. "For some reason, we like to focus on coverage when the issue for workers, people, and the public generally is cost," said Kaiser Family Foundation CEO Drew Altman. A Wall Street Journal /NBC News survey found 56 percent of registered U.S. voters oppose the idea of a government-run system like Medicare-for-all as a replacement for private insurance. However, investment advisory firm founder Shalin Madan said the current system creates a gap between those with good employer coverage and those who lack it. Altman said Americans who earn $25,000 or less — about 36 million — are the most likely to be priced out of insurance coverage. The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health's Benjamin Sommer added that some low-wage workers may be eligible for Medicaid in states that expanded the program under the Affordable Care Act, but private insurance enrollees who do not qualify for government help face more difficulty paying for care.