$1,000 Is Average Deductible For Group Ppos Health Insurance
An HR consultant firm, Mercer, shed some light on a recent finding. The current deductible average for company sponsored PPOs is $1000. That is twice what it was last year. And from 2001-2007 it remained steady at $500, before that it was $250 in 2000.
So why are group health insurance deductibles increasing? There were a few key points to this increase, says the report. The first was that health care cost for employers went up by 6 percent for the last four years. That's led to a near-nationwide trend of cost shifting to employees through higher deductibles and higher premiums.
Another was the increasing popularity of high-deductible consumer-directed health plans and Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). Such plans are now offered by 20 percent of large businesses. Really, though, this is another way of cost shifting to employees. Higher deductibles and HSAs mean workers pay for more of their own health care costs out-of-pocket.
Of course, HSAs and similar plans have great advantages. You save money by them being tax free, as well as continuing to have major medical.
But these plans are generally best for those who don't often need care. The bottom line, though, is that as deductibles go up, wallets get thinner.
