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.

Easing The Pain Of Expensive Health Care

Roughly 63% of all uninsured workers are either self-employed or work for firms with fewer than 100 employees, and only 47% of businesses with fewer than 500 employees offer health insurance, down from 58% in 1997. How can entrepreneurs ease the pain for themselves and their employees?

Mountain View, Calif.-based eHealth (nasdaq: EHTH - news - people ), an online health insurance brokerage, is trying to offer at least a smidge of relief with something called BusinessHSA. The new Web-based system lets employers set aside pre-tax contributions to employees' health savings accounts (HSAs), thus helping to defray costs while not offering a full-scale health benefits program. The service also gives employers a chance to help educate employees befuddled by the tortuously complicated health care market.

eHealthinsurance.com Joins Partnership

A partnership was announced this morning by eHealthinsurance and a small business advocacy group that seeks to fix a serious the small business problem: the lack of health insurance.

EHealthinsurance has partnered with the National Federation of Independent Business to offer a customized technology designed to facilitate the use of HSAs.

EHealthinsurance represents nearly 200 individual health insurance carriers and has about 9,000 to 10,000 different health insurance plans listed on its site.

EHealth Senior Vice President Sam Gibbs said the Mountain View, Calif.-based company began noticing that over the last 15 months many small businesses were no longer purchasing group health insurance plans and instead were signing up for individual coverage.

EHealth has created a tool that encourages a business owner to contribute to an employee's HSA. For example, if a company has 10 employees, the business owner may decide that he could contribute $500 per employee per year toward HSAs.

Individuals are not penalized if they use HSA funds to pay for qualified medical expenses and any unused funds can be rolled over if they are not used by the end of the calender year.

eHealthinsurance wins best Insurance Website award

The Webby Awards, the leading international honor for the Web, named eHealthInsurance, the Best Insurance Website of 2007.

The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet, including Websites, Interactive Advertising, Online Film & Video, and Mobile Websites. The awards are judged by the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences, a global organization that includes Harvey Weinstein, Arianna Huffington, Matt Groening, Jamie Oliver, Internet inventor Vinton Cerf, and RealNetworks CEO Rob Glaser.

The 11th Annual Webby Awards received a record 8,000 entries from over 60 countries and all 50 states.

Get a free no-obligation health insurance quote from eHealth and see how easy it is to use.

eHealth Innovation

Press Release

eHealth, parent company of eHealthInsurance, the nation's leading online source of health insurance for individuals, families and small businesses, announced the next generation of the Electronic Processing Interchange (EPI). EPI III will enable individual consumers in five states to receive an expedited response to their electronically submitted health insurance applications.

Humana Inc. one of the nation's largest health insurance companies, is the first insurer to participate. Humana will use EPI III to speed the processing of applications for its HumanaOne line of individual health insurance plans.

The States included in the initial roll-out are Texas, Kansas, Missouri, North Carolina and South Carolina. Individuals shopping for health insurance online in these states can now receive a response to their health insurance application within one business day by choosing a Humana health plan.

The EPI technology enables individuals to complete the entire health insurance purchasing process online. While the traditional paper-intensive non-EPI application process requires approximately 43 days on average from submission to approval, the EPI application process requires approximately 17 days. EPI has been widely adopted by the more than 160 health insurance carriers that eHealth represents.