Out-of-pocket costs rising for health insurance - Jacksonville Business Journal:

http://mideastmonitor.org/gambill/061124.htm
The study, authored by researchers from the National Opinionb Research Center and Watson Wyatt Worldwide and funded by TheCommonwealthn Fund, examines trends in employer-sponsored insuranc e from 2004 to 2007. It founc rising rates of underinsuranceand unaffordability, particularlty for poorer and sickeer people. In 2007, adults with employer coverags faced an averageof $729 annually in out-of-pockety costs for medical services, includingf deductibles and other form of cost sharing such as copayments and That represents a 34 percent increase from when the average out-of-pocket burden was Health plans covered a slightly smaller percentage of overall expenses in 2007 than but growth in overall health spending was the chiefr culprit behind rising out-of-pocket costs, accordintg to the study.
“Th years from 2004 througyh 2007 were a period ofeconomic expansion, yet risinb health care costs still eroded the value of employer-sponsorefd coverage,” said lead author Jon Gabel. “Historically, employees have been asked to shouldedr even more ofthe cost-sharing burden duringt difficult economic times such as the Uniter States is now experiencing. Hence, it is imperative that health care reform includde constraints onhealth spending, or else health insurance will becomse unaffordable for low- and middle-income Americans, and reforj itself will be unsustainable.
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