Insurance costs soaring

WASHINGTON — The cost of health-care insurance for Utah workers rose five times faster than growth in income from 2000 to 2004, according to a study released Tuesday by USA Families.

"Working families were squeezed by runaway health-care costs over the past four years," said Ron Pollack, executive director of the organization. "As a result, workers are paying much more in premiums but are receiving less health coverage, wages are being depressed, and millions of people have lost health coverage entirely."

Utah was one of 35 states in which the average cost of premiums rose at least three times faster than average earnings since 2000. Utah's rate of premium increases was the fourth highest in the nation.

"Tragically, what we are seeing is the tip of the iceberg," said Utah Issues' Judi Hilman, a health policy analyst. "What this means is that if we think we have a serious problem now, it is simply going to get worse."

The study, prepared by the Lewin Group, found that average premiums paid by Utah workers increased 66.3 percent over the four-year period, whereas Utah wages increased only 13.2 percent.

Nationally, premiums increased 35.9 percent, compared to improved wages of 12.4 percent. Premiums paid by employers and workers increased from $7,028 in 2000 to $9,320 in 2004, whereas the amount paid by workers for their health insurance increased from $1,433 to $1,947.

The study also found 85.2 million Americans were uninsured at some point during 2003-2004, an increase of 12.7 million from 1999-2000.

The number of uninsured Utahns under age 65 increased from 576,000 in 1999-2000 (28.1 percent of the population) to 643,000 in 2003-2004 (29.5 percent of the population), the study found.

"We are about to see that population expand significantly," Hilman said, "and it is happening at a time when several states are embarking on initiatives to cover their uninsured populations. We don't even have a plan."

Nationally, one out of three Americans under age 65 were uninsured for some period during 2003-2004, and more than half of those were uninsured for at least nine months.

"The number of people who were uninsured at some point in 2003-2004 exceeds the combined population of 32 states and the District of Columbia," Pollack said. "This is an epidemic that requires immediate attention."

Intermountain Health Care spokesman Daron Cowley said 144,000 people, a large portion of whom were uninsured, needed charitable assistance in paying for health care last year.

The cost of health care often stops people from seeking preventative services, which only makes long-term costs higher, Hilman said.

"People are under-utilizing preventative services and wind up with conditions that are far more expensive to treat. . . . The place where we are headed is a train wreck. We need to address it in an ambitious way."

The report utilized Census Bureau data, as well as information from the Department of Labor and the Department of Health and Human Services.

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