WASHINGTON - For the seventh straight year, premiums for group health insurance rose more than twice as fast as overall inflation and wages, an annual survey of employers shows.
The average 7.7 percent premium increase for 2006 was the smallest since 2000 and marked the third straight year that the rate of growth has slowed, according to the survey, released Wednesday by Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust.
But most Americans probably have felt little or no relief because their paychecks haven't kept pace with the rate hikes. Workers' earnings increased only 3.8 percent on average from April 2005 to April 2006, while inflation, up 3.5 percent, erodes their disposable income.
Since 2000, inflation has jumped 18 percent and the amount that workers pay toward family health-care coverage has skyrocketed 84 percent, the survey found. Average wages have increased 20 percent over the same period.
So even while the premium-rate increases have moderated -- down from a 9.2 percent jump in 2005 and an 11.2 percent spike in 2004 -- experts say there's no reason to celebrate.
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