AHIP, NFIB Release Health Insurance Premium Survey

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March 10, 2009 Tuesday 04:41 PM EST

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AHIP, NFIB Release Health Insurance Premium Survey

Sean P Carr

WASHINGTON

For small businesses, fewer employees equal higher health care premiums, according to a national survey from America's Health Insurance Plans and the National Federation of Independent Businesses.

Businesses with 26-50 employees paid lower premiums, $311 monthly on average in 2008, than those with 11-25 employees, who paid $332 monthly and those with fewer than 10 employees, who paid $378 per month, according to the survey released by AHIP and NFIB on the first day of AHIP's two-day 2009 National Policy Forum in Washington, D.C. The average annual premium for small group health insurance for employers with 50 or fewer employees was $4,155 ($346 per month) for single coverage and $10,956 ($913 per month) for coverage for a family of four.

"Generally, small businesses pay more for less," said Donald A. "Dan" Danner, NFIB president and chief executive officer.

A similar AHIP survey released in September 2006 found that for single coverage, the average premium for small-group coverage was $311 a month for all small groups. For groups with fewer than 10 workers, single coverage was $330 a month; for groups with 11 to 25 employees, $299 a month; and for groups with 26 to 50 workers, the cost was $287 a month, on average (BestWire, Sept. 26, 2006).

The survey included data from 761,000 small groups covering approximately 5 million workers and 3.9 million dependents. More than 80% of small groups represented had 10 or fewer employees.

Danner and AHIP President and CEO Karen Ignagni announced survey results while demonstrators rallied outside the Ritz-Carlton Hotel conference site. Representing the Health Care for America Now coalition, the demonstrators protested what they called the misplaced prioritization of "profits before people" by the health insurance industry.

(By Sean P. Carr, senior associate editor, BestWeek: [email protected])

March 11, 2009