WV WORKERS AND FAMILIES FALLING FAST IN HEALTHCARE CRISIS

(10/23/2008)

EMPLOYER'S PREMIUM COST UP 80% West Virginia workers' health insurance premiums increased four times faster than their wages during the past eight years, according to Eric Eyre of the Charleston Gazette. For family health care coverage, the employee's portion of health insurance premiums in West Virginia rose from $1,650 a year on average to more than $2,500 a year, or a 50 percent jump. Median wages increased only 18 percent between 2000 to 2007, according to the study by Families USA, a Washington, D.C.-based health care advocacy group. West Virginia families are paying more for health insurance but receiving less coverage. Employers are offering "thinner" coverage with fewer benefits, higher deductibles and co-payments, according to Eyre's report. Skyrocketing health care costs were a problem in West Virginia before the current economic crisis. "Slow wage growth or job losses only make matters worse," said Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA. "As health care becomes less and less affordable, West Virginians face difficult choices to provide health coverage for themselves and their families. A bad situation is clearly growing worse," Pollack said. For individual health coverage, West Virginia workers' share of premiums rose from $580 to $877 a year on average, the report said. WV businesses are paying a higher amount toward their employees' health insurance premiums. For family coverage, the employer's share of premiums rose from $5,195 to $9,400 a year - an 80 percent increase. more than half of people who filed for bankruptcy had problems paying medical costs. "If this troubling trend continues, the health care affordability crisis will get much worse, and many more West Virginians will become uninsured or underinsured," Pollack said.

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