Analysis Calculates Costs of Family Health Insurance

The average cost of group health insurance premiums for family coverage in the nation’s 10 largest states was highest in New York and lowest in Ohio, according to a new analysis.

The cost of family coverage in New York last year averaged $13,757 per employee in 2009, compared with a national average of $13,027 per employee, according to the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in Rockville, Maryland.

Closely behind New York was New Jersey, where premium costs for family coverage averaged $13,750 per employee in 2009, and Illinois, where costs averaged $13,708 per employee.

Premium costs for family coverage were lowest in Ohio, at an average of $11,870 per employee last year, and in Texas, where costs averaged $12,631 per employee.

The analysis also found that of employees nationwide who enroll in health care plans sponsored by their employers, 50 percent opt for single coverage, 30.5 percent select family coverage and 19.5 percent enroll in employee-plus-one-dependent coverage.

The analysis is available online at www.meps.ahrq.gov.  

Filed by Jerry Geisel of Business Insurance, a sister publication of Workforce Management. To comment, e-mail editors@workforce.com.

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