Employer-Provided Family Health Insurance Coming With More Expenses

A recent report finds that Americans with employer-provided family health insurance are paying more and more in the form of out-of-pocket costs.

The study, which was organized by the Commonwealth Fund, finds that employer-provided coverage has become more expensive for many families due to factors such as increased costs within the healthcare industry.

According to the study, the average adult paid $729 in 2007 for out-of-pocket costs related to their employer's plan, marking a 34 percent increase since 2004. In total, 57 percent of the out-of-pocket increases were traced to higher cost sharing for medical services, while 43 percent were due to higher premium contributions.

"Historically, employees have been asked to shoulder even more of the cost-sharing burden during difficult economic times such as the United States is now experiencing. Hence, it is imperative that health care reform include constraints on health spending, or else health insurance will become unaffordable for low- and middle-income Americans, and reform itself will be unsustainable," said the study's lead author Jon Gabel.

A number of employers are also simply responding to rising costs by dropping their coverage plans altogether. One way for consumers to save money on family health insurance if this happens to them is to consider purchasing a policy with a higher deductible.

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