Rate at Which Health Care Costs are Bankrupting America Slows – Sort of a Good Think Isn’t It

Coming Soon to a Home Near You – Higher Costs, Less Health Care

Thanks to the excellent folks at The Incidental Economist everyone is directed to Milliman Medical Index for information on the cost of providing health care in the United States and the cost of health care for the average family of four.  The big news, health care for a family of four in the U. S. is now over $20,000 for one year.  In 2008 the cost was  $15,600.00.

As to how a typical family of four can afford this amount, it should be noted that on average most of the cost is borne by employer provided health insurance.  That cost to the employer is now averaging slightly over $12,000 per year.  The critical amount, the amount that the family pays out of pocket for health care is about $3,500.

So is there any good news in all of this?  Well the rate of increase has decline again.  At 6.9% the increase for 2012 is the lowest percentage amount for the last several years.  So the good news is that the rise in health care costs is slowing, meaning that the year in which health care consumes all of a typical family’s income is a little further in the future.