Report highlights increasing costs for employer-sponsored health insurance Posted: December 9th, 2010

From 2003 - 2009, premiums for employer-sponsored family health insurance plans went up by an average of 41%. At the same time, subscribers saw their deductibles increase, on average, by 77%. Those are the findings of a state-by-state analysis of health care conducted by The Commonwealth Fund.

During those years, the states with the highest premiums were:

• Alaska
• Connecticut
• Massachusetts
• Vermont
• Wisconsin
• Wyoming

The average price of employer-sponsored family health insurance in those states was more than $14,000 per year. In terms of overall increase, Louisiana had the largest jump in premiums with the cost for employer-based family plans rising 59% from 2003 - 2009.

Using data from the six year period, the study also projected the cost of employer-sponsored health insurance through 2020 should current trends continue. Those projections found that the average cost of a family group insurance plan would increase 79% by the end of the decade, and premiums would average $23,342 per year.

According to the report's authors, if health reform's Affordable Care Act is able to reduce historic premium growth by at least one percentage point per year, the average family plan would be $2,323 cheaper in 2020.