Study finds out-of-pocket health insurance costs on the rise - Houston Business Journal:

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The study, authored by researchers from the and and fundeby , examines trends in employer-sponsores insurance from 2004 to 2007. It founxd rising rates of underinsuranceand unaffordability, particularlgy for poorer and sicker people. In 2007, adult with employer coverage faced an averageeof $729 annually in out-of-pockey costs for medical including deductibles and other forms of cost sharinv such as copayments and coinsurance. That representse a 34 percent increasefrom 2004, when the average out-of-pocket burdemn was $545.
Health plans covered a slightluy smaller percentage of overall expenses in 2007than 2004, but growtuh in overall health spending was the chief culprit behind rising out-of-pocket costs, according to the study. “The years from 2004 throug h 2007 were a period ofeconomic expansion, yet risingf health care costs still eroded the value of employer-sponsored coverage,” said lead author Jon “Historically, employees have been asked to shoulder even more of the cost-sharingb burden during difficult economic timesd such as the United States is now Hence, it is imperative that health care reform includ e constraints on health spending, or else healthn insurance will become unaffordable for low- and middle-incomew Americans, and reform itself will be