Tuesday, October 03, 2006
BestWire Services - Sept. 27: Monthly premiums for a family of four enrolled in a small company's group-health plan averaged $814 a month in early 2006, according to a new survey of the small-group market by the country's largest health insurance lobbying group, a survey the group said was the largest of its kind. The survey, commissioned and released by Washington-based America's Health Insurance Plans, involved more than 656,000 small-group plans, defined as those with 50 or fewer workers, encompassing more than 7.2 million covered people. Among those small plans, premiums tended to be more expensive for smaller groups those with 10 or fewer employees which accounted for 83% of the group plans surveyed. Monthly premiums for those plans averaged $864 for a family of four; for a group with 11 to 25 employees, a similar plan cost $785 a month; and for a group with 26 to 50 employees, premiums were $752 a month. For single coverage, the AHIP survey found that the average premium for small-group coverage was $311 a month for all small groups. For groups with fewer than 10 workers, single coverage was $330 a month; for groups with 11 to 25 employees, $299 a month; and for groups with 26 to 50 workers, the cost was $287 a month, on average. It's unclear, however, what policy implications the survey results hold. AHIP said the survey also was the first of its kind, meaning there are no direct comparisons with prior years or with other data examining the small-group market. AHIP said its survey showed that small-group premiums in 2006 were slightly lower than those reported in a 2005 study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, but those studies aren't directly comparable; the KFF survey involved all firms with three or more employees, rather than small groups with 50 or fewer workers, and the study didn't say whether the plans examined were comparable.When asked what public policy changes the survey data suggested, AHIP's president and chief executive officer, Karen Ignagni, said there were none. However, she said, "people will be surprised to see what is going on in the small group market." Ignagni also said policy-makers should give insurers greater flexibility, which would lead to more affordable group plans; she said removing state coverage mandates would help provide that flexibility. AHIP also said its study looked only at what insurers were charging for small-group coverage, and so did not examine what proportions of those premiums were borne by employers and workers. The survey queried 21 insurance companies that are members of AHIP, collecting data about enrollment during January 2006, said Jeff Lemieux of AHIP's Center for Policy and Research.
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@ 4:41 PM
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