The Average Family Plan Medical Insurance Cost

As health insurance rates continue to skyrocket across the nation, consumers are increasingly concerned with finding an affordable medical plan with acceptable benefits. This is especially true for consumers in need of family coverage, as ensuring your children have proper protection is among the top priorities. Multiple factors affect the cost of health insurance plans, sometimes making it difficult to accurately estimate premiums.

Premiums

• Medical insurance premiums continue to increase at a very high rate. In conjunction with the Health Research & Educational Trust, the Kaiser Family Foundation surveys employers annually in an effort to maintain accurate statistics regarding health insurance costs. Its findings reveal that average family premiums rose by 3 percent in 2010 to $13,770 per year. These results are seemingly in line with an article published by USA Today in 2009, stating that family premiums rose by 5 percent from the 2008 average of $13,375. However, these figures both differ significantly from a report released by CNN Money stating that average family premiums rose in 2011 by 7.3 percent to $19,393.

Deductibles

• A health insurance plan deductible is an amount that must be paid by the consumer before the insurance company will begin paying any benefits. This amount is above and beyond the normal monthly premium, and represents one of the most significant out-of-pocket expenses. According to HealthReform.gov, "the average family deductible increased 30 percent in just two years." Additionally, "this effect is more pronounced for small firms, where PPO deductibles increased from $1,439 to $2,367 --- a rise of 64 percent."

Prescriptions

• The vast majority of health insurance plans provide coverage for prescription drugs. However, the actual out-of-pocket costs to covered members are as varied as the drugs themselves. The Kaiser Family Foundation explains that the majority of health insurance plans contained prescription coverage benefits that use a tiered system of cost-sharing. The price for medication in the lowest tier, generic drugs, averaged $11, the second tier, brand name drugs, averaged $28, and the third tier, non-preferred brand name drugs, averaged $48. Some plans even have a fourth tier, which averages between $75 and $90 per prescription.

Expectations

• The New America Foundation's State of the State Health project has analyzed rising health insurance costs to provide rational projections of future premiums. Over the past 10 years, medical policy costs have increased at an average of 7.88 percent throughout the country, but the median household income has only increased 0.77 percent. While the Health and Human Services Office acknowledges that "We need to ensure that the health care dollar goes further for American families," there has been wavering support for President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act. The Congressional Budget Office estimates and anticipates noticeable savings for the average family of approximately $2,300 for middle-income families and $9,900 for low-income families beginning in 2014. The New America Foundation, on the other hand, does not recognize any such decrease in expenses, and projects that by 2016 the cost of health insurance for a family will average $24,291 per year.