Best and Worst States for Group Health Insurance, UBA Health Plan Survey

By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Managed Care Weekly Digest -- Employer-sponsored health insurance is greatly affected by geographic region, industry, and employer size. While some cost trends have been fairly consistent since the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) was put in place, United Benefit Advisors (UBA) finds several surprises in their 2016 Health Plan Survey (see also United Benefit Advisors).

Based on responses from more than 11,000 employers, UBA announces the top five best and worst states for group health care costs.

The top five best (least expensive) states are: 1) Hawaii; 2) Idaho; 3) Utah; 4) Arkansas; and 5) Mississippi.

Hawaii, a perennial low-cost leader, actually experienced a nearly seven percent decrease in their single coverage in 2016. New Mexico, a state that was a low-cost winner in 2015, saw a 22 percent increase in monthly premiums for singles and nearly a 30 percent increase in monthly family premiums, dropping them from the "best" list.

The top five worst (most expensive) states are: 1) Alaska; 2) Wyoming; 3) New York; 4) Vermont; and 5) New Jersey.

Wyoming catapulted onto the list this year with monthly premiums for singles and families increasing from $534 and $1,326, respectively in 2015 to $662 and $1,453, respectively in 2016 (representing nearly a 24% increase in single coverage and nearly a 10% increase in family coverage).

"Benchmarking by state, region, industry, and group size is critical," says Les McPhearson, CEO of UBA. "We see it time and time again, especially with new clients. An employer benchmarks their rates nationally and they seem at or below average, but once we look at their rates by plan type across multiple carriers and among their neighboring competitors or like-size groups, we find many employers leave a lot on the bargaining table."

Keywords for this news article include: Managed Care, Health Insurance, United Benefit Advisors.

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