By Chris Faddis
November 21, 2024

High Health Insurance Rates Are Affecting Everyone

Long gone are the days when families automatically choose to renew their health insurance policies each year. Today, high health insurance rates and double-digit rate spikes, made worse by a lack of medical price transparency, are driving policyholders who once may have stuck with their current plans to seek out more affordable alternatives.

As we begin open enrollment, Americans should know that they can access the high-quality medical treatment they need to thrive from youth to old age despite dramatically rising healthcare costs.

Employees in the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) plan are projected to pay an average of 13.5% more for their plans in 2025 – that’s the largest healthcare premium increase in more than a decade. This large jump comes on the heels of a 7.7% jump in 2024 and an 8.7% increase in 2023, according to the Office of Personnel Management. These rate increases are unsustainable for anyone, but especially for families and individuals already struggling to afford life’s other necessities, including food, transportation, and education.

FEHB enrollees are far from the only ones to experience skyrocketing healthcare costs. For the third consecutive year, employers across the nation will pay over 5% more for healthcare costs — even up to 9% if they do not take swift steps to manage these costs.

Unfortunately, the trend towards costly care is exacerbated by countless hospitals across the nation which refuse to post prices for essential treatment on their websites. They even fail to do so despite longstanding federal laws requiring it. In fact, only 34.5% of hospitals comply with federal price transparency rules, requiring hospitals to post the cash prices and rates negotiated with health insurers as well as estimates for at least 300 services so consumers can compare prices.

Read the rest of Chris’ article on RealClearHealth here