Half of Individual Policies Cost Less Than $130 Month According to eHealth Report

eHealthInsurance announced the release of a new study on the individual health insurance market. The findings appear in The Cost And Benefits Of Individual And Family Health Insurance Plans, a commissioned evaluation of eHealth Inc.'s data conducted by Forrester Consulting.

The analysis provides facts on actual premiums paid for individual health insurance and the nature of accompanying plan benefits. The research, based on a nationwide sample of over 227,000 individual and family (IFP) major medical policies that were purchased through eHealthInsurance and active in August 2007, revealed the following insights:
-- The average monthly premium for individual policies was $158
-- The average premium for family policies was $366
-- The average deductible for individual policies was $1,972
-- The average deductible for family policies was $2,610
-- The majority of family policies had annual premiums between $3,400 and $4,650
-- Half of all individual policy holders paid less than $130 per month for monthly premiums
-- More than half of all family policy holders paid less than $300 per month for monthly premiums
-- Women paid, on average, 18% more than men did for individual health insurance premiums
-- The average plan lifetime limit was $3.9 million
-- A vast majority of individual and family policyholders had lab x-ray, emergency, prescription and chiropractic coverage

For consumers, health insurance isn't a discretionary item, but rather something they need and can afford through the individual market. This is especially critical for those seeking alternatives to costly COBRA coverage.

The new analysis shows that on average, women are paying 18% more than men for individual health insurance premiums. Among major medical plans sold to individuals, women paid an average of $171 per month, compared to the average monthly premium of $145 paid by men.

The range of average monthly premiums in 2007 for individual plans across the United States was between $83 in North Dakota and $388 for New York residents, representing a monthly disparity of $305, or $3,660 per year. Regionally, the Northeast had the highest average monthly premium for individuals, at $239, while the Midwest had the lowest at $130. In the West, eHealthInsurance members paid on average $150 per month for an individual plan, while those in the South paid an average of $154 per month.(2)

The report found that in 2007, sixty percent of children's plans had monthly premiums of $100 or less, with an average monthly premium of $92 for individual children. Individual health insurance for children is an important and affordable option for families that may be shouldering a larger -- potentially more expensive -- portion of the dependent premium with employer-based health insurance.

New to the evaluation this year is data on eHealthInsurance members that have chosen an HSA-eligible plan. Of the 227,000 plans surveyed, 14 percent were HSA-eligible plans. Of these plans, the average premium for an individual plan was $133 and the average premium for a family plan was $302. The majority of HSA-eligible plan holders were between the ages of 25 and 44 years old.

The 2007 plan data referred to in the The Cost And Benefits Of Individual And Family Health Insurance Plans report is derived from over 227,000 individual and family (IFP) major medical policies purchased through eHealthInsurance that were active in August 2007. The report analyzes monthly premiums paid on individual and family major medical health insurance policies in 2005, 2006, and 2007, along with the benefits associated with those plans.

Insurance Agents View of Obama Health Plan

In the 1990's it was the now-defunct Health Insurers Association of America that led the charge against Hillary Clinton''s health care reform plan, marshalling the entire business community in a revolt that had at least a bit to do with the Republicans'' take-over of Congress in 1994. But as the health insurance community prepares for revived efforts at health care reform under president Obama, it is not the insurers who write the coverage, but the producers who sell it, that seem most alarmed by changes that could be coming.

America''s Health Insurance Plans greeted the Obama victory by declaring its members "support coverage for all Americans, coverage they can afford, and coverage they can keep," and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association said Obama''s health care agenda has "in common many of the same stepping stones to health care reform" as the Blues'' own plan.

But agents and brokers have been far less sanguine about what it could mean for them.Though several aspects of Obama''s health plan concern them, the issue that has benefits brokers most concerned is the proposed "National Health Insurance Exchange," a federal pooling mechanism open to all businesses and all individuals. By making the federal government the primary intermediary in the benefits market, and greatly curtailing the degree to which group plans can differ in cost or design, the NHIE, some fear, could effectively displace the agent community nationwide.

"None have been successful in lowering costs," Abadie said. "However, repeated failures have not dissuaded lawmakers."And it isn''t just life/health specialists who are paying attention. Agents and brokers that traditionally have been engaged primarily in commercial property/casualty increasingly have been relying on the profitable growth of health benefits as a hedge against the waning and waxing of the insurance pricing cycle."Employee benefits, for independent agents, is the fastest part of their book of business," said Robert Rusbuldt, president of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America. "For a medium-size agency, employee benefits is now constituting a meaningful size of their book of business, and it''s the most profitable part of their book of business, because there''s no soft market."While many in the health insurance community were just as concerned about aspects of Sen. John McCain''s health plan – particularly its suggestion of capping the deductibility of employer-provided benefits – Joel Wood, senior vice president of government affairs with the Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers, noted there also had been an understanding that McCain would have been unlikely to ever get his plans through a Democratic-controlled Congress. Obama will have other problems with his plan, including finding the money to pay for it, but congressional support will not be one of them. "To the extent that anybody''s going to pay for it, beyond those individuals making more than $250,000, who will pay for everything under the Obama plan, there has been this nebulous conversation about ''meaningful contributions'' from employers," Wood said. "We think that that could have the perverse effect of driving more people into the federal system, doing the Massachusetts-style thing, where you just pay your penalty up-front for not covering your own folks and then you wind up with a dysfunctional governmental system."

Voters back referendum on single-payer health care

Early results showed Cape Codders supported a nonbinding referendum stating that health care should be a universal human right and should be administered under a single-payer health insurance system available to all citizens of the state.

As of 1 a.m, 62 percent of voters in 18 Cape and Islands towns and Gosnold had voted in favor of the ballot initiative. Early results showed Cape Codders supported a nonbinding referendum stating that health care should be a universal human right and should be administered under a single-payer health insurance system available to all citizens of the state.

The question also appeared on ballots in other Massachusetts communities. Supporters said the current health-care system is too fragmented and expensive to work effectively. Detractors were concerned about government taking over health care.

The towns of Brewster, Chatham, Dennis, Eastham, Harwich, Orleans, Gosnold, Oak Bluffs and Nantucket all passed the no-binding referendum, as did the four precincts in Falmouth where it was on the ballot. Results were not in for Provincetown, Truro, Wellfleet, Yarmouth, Aquinnah, Chilmark, Edgartown, Tisbury and West Tisbury.

Under a single-payer system, a Medicare-type program or a nonprofit trust fund would provide insurance.