Report: Texas health premiums climb, wages stagnate

Family health insurance premiums for Texas workers have risen 7.4 times faster than median earnings over the past six years, according to an October study by Families USA. Through the study, entitled, “Premiums versus Paychecks: A Growing Burden for Texas’s Workers,” the non-profit health care organization examines the impact that rising health care costs have to Texans: many employers have reduced or eliminated benefits or wages while many families have struggled with medical debt or bankruptcy.

Annual health insurance premiums for employer-provided coverage rose from $6,638 to $11,929 between 2000 and 2006 while median wages of Texas workers increased from $23,032 to 25,509 during the same period. This amounts to a 79.9 percent increase in coverage premiums while wages have increased 10.8 percent.

This imbalance results in more employers thinning or eliminating benefits, which shifts costs to families. As families pay a greater share of health care costs, they struggle to pay medical bills when health care is needed. The study reports that these families take drastic measures to avoid financial ruin – 35 percent of the underinsured have re-mortgaged a home or run up credit card debt to pay for medical bills – but even with their actions, more than half of bankruptcies are still caused in part by problems with medical costs. According to the study, “more than one-quarter of insured Americans report problems with medical bills or say that they are in the process of paying off medical debt.”

Families USA warns that Texas will face diminishing economic and health security unless national policymakers take steps to make health care more affordable and accessible.

To read the Families USA press release and to access the full study, go to the Families USA Web site.