West Virginians who get their
health insurance through employer-sponsored programs are paying some of the
highest rates in the U.S.
for premiums and deductibles, according to a new report from The Commonwealth
Fund.
“You’re up in the ranks of a New York, New Hampshire, Connecticut,” Cathy
Schoen, executive director of the Council of Economic Advisors for The
Commonwealth Fund said.
“For a relatively low-income state,
health insurance is very expensive and it’s continued to be so.”
Nationwide, the report showed a
slowdown in premium growth in 31 states and Washington, D.C.
between 2010 and 2013 — the years since the provisions within the Affordable
Care Act started being implemented. While premiums rose at slower rates in
those areas, deductibles have also been climbing.
In West Virginia, though, there’s been no
slowdown for premium increases through employer-sponsored health insurance
programs which have continued to climb at a steady rate, about 6.4 percent
annually, since 2010, according to numbers from The Commonwealth Fund.
There’s been no acceleration in
premium increases since ACA first started taking effect but, Schoen said, the
constant rising costs of health care hit home.
“Since employees pay a share of
that — often 20, 25 percent of it — that means the employee is seeing more of
their paycheck go to pay their premium and deductibles have nearly tripled in
the state of West Virginia (since 2003),” Schoen said.
In 2013, she said, premiums
accounted for a 26 percent share of median state incomes — far outpacing income
growth.
In 2003, the report data showed
annual single health insurance premiums through employer-sponsored programs in West Virginia were an
average of $3,809. In 2010, those same premiums were $4,935. By 2013, that
number had grown to $5,940.
For families, the report showed
premiums in West Virginia
were an average of $9,164 in 2003, $14,194 in 2010, when ACA started being
implemented, and $17,105 in 2013. The 2013 number was nearly as high as
premiums in New York
which reported an average family premium of $17,503.
Schoen said the study’s findings
lead to a number of questions. “For your policymakers and the questions that
the citizens of the state should be asking is what can we do about this? What
is underneath this? What is happening to the prices being charged and why have
they continued to go up when family incomes are not going up very rapidly?”
In the end, Schoen said, it comes
down to one major query: “How do you make care both high quality and affordable
in the state of West Virginia?”
