Joseph Babbitt of Springfield, Mo. has a pretty good deal when it comes to health insurance. He works as a senior financial controller for West Plains Veterinary Supply, which employs about 50 people and distributes pet food, toys and vet supplies across the region. Like about 157 million Americans, Babbitt gets insurance through his job.
Unlike most Americans, his job has exceptionally generous benefits. "Our owners are very nice — they give all of our employees health care and they pay for it," he says. The company offers several different plan options and covers most or all of the monthly premium cost.
For stories on the science of healthy living, subscribe to NPR's Health newsletter. So why, even with free premiums, does it still feel like health costs are way too expensive? "Everybody talks about health care and how much it's costing them," says Babbitt.
He explains that even without monthly premiums, a high deductible can be brutal — that's the amount the patient has to spend out-of-pocket before the insurance company starts paying for doctors visits and procedures, etc. Now age 60, he remembers a time when it wasn't so bad. "Back in the '90s, our deductibles were $250 [or] $500 — now they're $5,000," he says.
"That seems like a lot." "We are the only country on our planet that forces people into bankruptcy because they get sick," he adds. Health care costs are rising fast in the U.S., and even workers with solid health care benefits through work are feeling it, according to an annual survey of nearly 2,000 employers about their health benefits. The report was published Thursday by KFF, a nonpartisan health research organization.
"The average health insurance premium for a family of four is now $28,000, which is just a ton of money," says Matthew Rae, associate director for the Health Care Marketplace Program at KFF. "It's basically the cost of a new car every year just to keep a family of four insured." Of that total for family premiums, workers pay about $7,000 per year on average and employers pay the rest. A glimmer of positivity is that the costs for plans isn't growing as fast as it has in years past, he explains.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
