“This study makes plain what every working parent knows — that providing insurance coverage takes a bigger bite from the family budget every year,” said Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a public health research organization based in Princeton, N.J.
Nationwide, the amount employees pay for family coverage increased 30 percent from 2001 to 2005, while family policyholders’ income increased just 3 percent over the same period, according to the study.
Nationally, the average cost of family coverage increased nearly $2,500 — from $8,281 in 2001 to $10,728 in 2005. And the amount that workers pay for family premiums, on average, increased $664, from $1,921 in 2001 to $2,585 in 2005.
Meanwhile, the median income of people who hold family health insurance policies increased just $1,250 during the same period, from $40,818 in 2001 to $42,068 in 2005. The average cost that employers pay for their share of family coverage increased from $6,360 to $8,143, or 28 percent, during the period.
The average cost of family insurance premiums in the Granite State increased 13 percent from 2001 to 2005, while family policyholders’ median earned income was unchanged.
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