
Family health care premiums rose an estimated 4.6 times faster than earnings for Wisconsin’s workers from 2000 through 2009, according to a report issued today by the consumer health organization Families USA. In that 10-year period, family health insurance premiums rose by 93.6 percent, while median earnings rose by only 20.4 percent.
As the report notes, the disproportionately high increases in insurance premiums have continued despite employees receiving
“thinner coverage”—coverage that offers fewer benefits and/or that comes with higher deductibles, copayments, and co-insurance. Other employers have cut costs by placing limits on which employees are eligible for coverage or by eliminating
coverage for spouses and children of employees. As a result, Wisconsin families are paying more but receiving less in health coverage.“Rising health care costs threaten the financial well-being of families in Wisconsin and across the nation,” said Ron Pollack, Executive Director of Families USA.
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