Posted on July 16, 2010 15:40
Categories: Employer and Individual Insurance
Topics: Individual Coverage | Out-of-Pocket | Spending
On June 21, The Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) released an individual health care coverage survey, finding that insurers in the individual market requested rate increases averaging 20 percent. The survey examined premiums and deductibles nationwide as well as individuals’ attitudes toward their coverage. Over 50 percent of respondents reported difficulty paying their premiums and out-of-pocket costs. In addition, those with preexisting conditions were more likely to report problems with their coverage and uncertainty about its stability than were those without preexisting conditions. Forty-nine percent of individuals that had someone with a preexisting condition covered on their policy reported difficulty getting their insurer to pay their claims, compared to 28 percent of those whose policies did not cover anyone with a preexisting condition.
From the report:
Individual, or non-group, health insurance covers about 14 million nonelderly people in America, making it the least common source of health insurance. In contrast, about 157 million nonelderly people are covered by employer-sponsored insurance.1Yet, recent reports of steep premium increases have attracted attention to the circumstances of people who buy insurance on their own. And, in the vast majority of states, the non-group market is subject to substantially less regulation than group insurance, with insurers permitted to exclude people or impose rate surcharges based on pre-existing health conditions. Much will change under the new health reform law – including a requirement that insurers accept everyone regardless of health status, a prohibition on health status rating, and creation of purchasing Exchanges – but the major elements of the law do not take effect until 2014.
There is a limited amount of information available on the costs and benefits of individual health insurance. What evidence is available suggests that despite lower premiums, individuals with non-group coverage generally pay a higher share of their health expenses out of pocket than those with employer-sponsored coverage, indicating less comprehensive coverage. 2 Market surveys – from America’s Health Insurance Plans and eHealthInsurance.com – report average premium and deductible levels in non-group plans, but the data are not nationally representative and do not describe enrollee experiences.3 In an effort to obtain more information on people purchasing individual insurance, the Kaiser Family Foundation conducted a nationally representative survey of 1,038 individuals with non-group coverage from late March through early April, 2010.4
Full report: Individual Insurance Market Survey Finding Large Rate Increase Requests (PDF | 438KB)
Kaiser Family Foundation. (2010). Survey of people who purchase their own insurance.
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