Healthcare deductible costs rose at 16x the rate of inflation since 2006/ NYT

A NYT editorial discussed healthcare costs last week using two simple graphs. In case you still have good insurance, take a look at what has happened to the rest of us.  Over seventeen years, the cost of insurance premiums has risen at 6 times the rate of inflation.  Over ten years, deductibles rose at 16 times the rate of inflation. Someone called this "strip mining the middle class." The NYT says,

"The reaction to opening a medical bill these days is often shock and confusion — for the insured and the uninsured. Prices and deductibles keep rising, policies are drowning in fine print, and doctors are jumping on and off networks...  With incomes for most Americans stagnant, individuals and families insured under the Affordable Care Act or through employers are bearing more of the cost of medical treatment..."

Workers’ contribution

to premiums

+242%

+213%

Health

insurance

premiums

200%

Workers’

earnings

100

+60%

+44%

Inflation

’99

’05

’10

’16

Data for employer plans; yearly figures from April to April.

Source: Kaiser Family Foundation

By The New York Times

Deductibles Rise Even Faster

+302%

Increase in

deductibles for

individual plans

since 2006

300%

200

100

+29%

earnings

+19%

inflation

’06

’10

’16

Data for employer plans; yearly figures from April to April.

Source: Kaiser Family Foundation

By The New York Times