Just watched the NBC's TODAY show last night live as it comes from USA
and a guest was speaking of his health insurance costs. I suspect I
heard wrong or misunderstood the context as I thought he was saying
that his yearly health insurance costs were $20,000 a year.  Or
perhaps I heard right but $20,000 for health insurance each year is
not unreasonable in the USA( i.e given the very high wages & salaries
paid) for what the level of service and facilities in return are.
Either way I would like to know just what health insurance costs over
there and whether it would be possible to pay such an amount ($20,000)
for the best cover available.   I would have liked to compare to
Australia  but probably not possible as individuals here can pay
entirely different amounts for exactly the same service; i.e every
worker/salaried person pays 1.5% of total yearly wage/salary pro rata
each pay period( to a maximum $$point) which covers all (  very basic)
hospital costs and 85% of suburban doctors visit costs.Private
insurance as top-up to the nationliased basic system is then optional
after that for the very best cover

Greetings, John!

I am delighted that I finally have the opportunity to Answer a
Question for you.

Health Insurance costs vary WIDELY here in the US. There are numerous
reasons for that.

While the number of uninsured people in the US was way too high
already, with the economy going completely bust here in the last 2
years, many more people have become uninsured:
- because they had health insurance through their employer and lost
their job
- because their employer stopped offering health insurance
- because their health care cost through their employer became
unaffordable, or
- because they were paying for health insurance on their own but could
no longer afford it.

One of the reasons for the wide variance in cost is that many
employers (companies) here pay for part of their employees' health
insurance. Some companies cover all, or a large part of the cost of
their employees' insurance premiums. Other companies cover only a
small portion of that premium, or none of it. In the last 2 years with
the worsening economy, though, they are generally paying less of that
premium and requiring their employees to pay more of it.

Another reason is that HMOs (Health Maintenance Organizations)
sometimes cost less than other types of health care plans (although
they often provide less comprehensive coverage as well).

Health insurance premiums here are rarely based on income, but rather
are a set fee. For individual coverage, the insurance company
calculates the premium based on the family's past history of medical
claims as well as how much risk for claims they present based on their
past medical history and health risk factors. For coverage through a
group, such as an employer, companies usually use the same information
to calculate the risk for the group as a whole, then determine the
same premium cost for everyone in the group.

It is not uncommon for employers to provide a selection of 2 or 3
"plans" which provide varying levels of service (and thus have varying
costs in premium), and allow employees to choose in which plan they
wish to participate. One plan may cover 100% of medical care costs
after the insured pays a $25 co-payment for every single occurrence of
health care. Another plan may only charge $10 for every single
occurrence of health care, but only cover 80% of the rest of the
medical care costs, leaving the employee to pay the other 20%.

In 1999, my spouse and I paid $794 toward medical, dental, vision, and
pharmacy insurance, while his employer claimed they spent $4,188 for
the remainder of the insurance (bear in mind that we still had to pay
$10 for every doctor visit and $5 to $25 for every prescription).

In 2000, my spouse and I paid $754 toward medical, dental, vision, and
pharmacy insurance, while his employer claimed they spent $4,913 for
the remainder of the insurance (plus $15 for every doctor visit and $5
to $30 for every prescription).

In 2001, my spouse and I paid $553 toward medical, dental, vision, and
pharmacy insurance, while his employer claimed they spent $2,534 for
the remainder of the insurance (plus $15 for every doctor visit and $5
to $30 for every prescription). Note that the reason this amount
dropped so drastically for us that year was because they changed how
they charged for the premiums. Families with children were charged a
heavier premium per person, because they tend to have more frequent
doctor visits, and couples were charged less, because they typically
make fewer claims.

In 2002 (new employer), my spouse and I paid $1,658 toward medical,
dental, vision, and pharmacy insurance (plus $15 for every doctor
visit and $7 to $50 for every prescription); I do not know what his
employer paid for the remainder of the insurance.

In 2003 (new employer), we will pay $600 toward medical, dental,
vision, and pharmacy insurance (plus $15 for every doctor visit and
$10 to $50 for every prescription); I do not know what his employer
will pay for the remainder of the insurance.

Bear in mind that in each of these years, we ourselves paid several
thousand dollars, in addition to the cost of our insurance, in
co-payments and deductibles.

Now, here's the kicker: Our insurance costs have been relatively low,
because all of my spouse's employers were hospitals, and they required
their employees to use their health care provider system, so that
every time an employee had a doctor visit or other service, it was a
claim against the group coverage they provided, but it was also
revenue walking in their door.

I have always had coverage through my husband, because the coverage
provided by my employers cost much, much more while covering much,
much, less.

Bearing in mind that health insurance coverage for an individual
family will cost much, much more than group coverage through an
employer, because the risk is concentrated on just a few people and
not spread out over a large group, it is quite possible that people
paying for their own insurance would pay $20,000 or more a year,
especially if they have several children.

In my opinion, $20,000 for health insurance each year IS unreasonable
in the USA; nevertheless, some people are probably paying that much --
or more -- anyway.

Insurance companies require you to give them your family's medical
history and risk factors in order to acquire individual health care
insurance, and then base the cost of the premium on that information.
Depending on that information, you might be able to get quite
excellent coverage for $20,000 -- or you might be able to get just
adequate coverage. If someone in your family has or had cancer, you
might be able to get a bare amount of coverage -- or you might just be
refused coverage entirely.


"Wise Seeks Health Care Coverage for Uninsured" by Michelle Blum, The
Intelligencer/Wheeling WV News Register (March 13, 2003)
"Wise said a survey of 16,000 families, one of the most comprehensive
ever done in the state, indicates there are 28,371 children and
219,971 "non-elderly adults" without health care insurance...
He said 61 percent of adults without health insurance are working, but
are employed in small businesses or earn low wages and are unable to
afford health care insurance. Some 85.1 percent of those without
health care insurance cannot afford it, the survey indicates.
In 1995, health care insurance premiums for a family cost an average
of $4,425, but that figure is expected to rise to $16,272 in 2007. At
the same time, about half of those working have incomes of less than
$20,000 a year..."
http://www.news-register.net/news/story/0313202003_newgov1.asp

"Businesses Anticipate Future Increases in Health Care Costs; Emplyees
will be Asked to Pay More for Insurance Coverage" by Patrick McCabe,
U.S. Newswire (March 13, 2003):
"- According to Census figures released in 2002, 41.2 million people
were uninsured in 2001, an increase of 1.4 million from the previous
year -- the largest single-year increase in nearly a decade.
-  Nearly all businesses say employees will be expected to pay more
for their health insurance premiums, deductibles and co-pays next year
and for the next five years. Nevertheless, companies expect to bear
the bulk of the anticipated cost increase, passing on just one-fourth
of the cost increases to their employees.
-  To cope with the rising costs, 45 percent of employers say they'll
reduce employee health benefits over the next five years.
-  Four percent of businesses say they are likely to drop employee
healthcare coverage entirely next year."
http://boston.com/dailynews/072/region/_Businesses_Anticipate_Future_:.shtml

"Fresno schools balance programs, health costs: Teachers' share of
insurance payments, popular classes at stake" by Felicia Cousart
Matlosz, The Fresno CA Bee (March 11, 2003):
"Fresno Unified School District spends an average of $10,520 annually
on each employee in the plan. That's expected to climb to $12,800 next
year. So, while the employee pays $120 annually, the district picks up
the rest.
Employees also pay other costs, such as $100 deductibles per
individual and $200 per family, $10 co-pays for doctor visits and $5
for generic prescriptions and $8 for name brands."
http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/6352403p-7301047c.html

"Insurance costs more for workers" by David Whelan, Contra Costa CA
Times (March 1, 2003):
"In 2002, the average cost of premiums for individuals cost $2,845
here, compared with $3,060 across the country. For families,
California premiums cost $7,471, compared with national costs of
$7,954."
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/business/5292864.htm


Search Strategy

average cost of health care insurance
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&q=average+cost+of+health+care+insurance&btnG=Search+News

"paid more than" health care insurance
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22paid+more+than%22+health+care+insurance+-malpractice&btnG=Google+Search


Before Rating my Answer, if you have any questions about the
information I have provided, please post a Request for Clarification,
and I will be glad to see what I can do for you.

I hope that this Answer has provided exactly the information you were
seeking!

Regards,

aceresearcher

Yes thanks very much for that Ace Researcher, your research efforts do
justify your GA codename. I have now read  your text a couple of times
and gleaned some of the links provided.It answered very well the
question as put with further info as well so I cant see how I could
leave less that five stars for that,particularly as I did not offer a
very high fee like some others do.

 Thanks again

john,

Thanks for the 5-star rating and the glowing evaluation! I am
delighted that you were so happy with your Answer. I can see why missy
loves working with you; it is a joy to do research for you.

I look forward to assisting you again sometime soon!

aceresearcher