The total out-of-pocket costs for Hoosiers with employer-based health insurance has doubled in the past decade. A new analysis focuses on policies that could help improve affordability.
More than half of the people in Indiana receive health insurance through their employers and the cost continues to rise.
Hoosiers spend about 6 percent of their median income on insurance with an average $1,800-deductible. Sara Collins, a vice president with the Commonwealth Fund says middle-income people feel the pinch most.
"So we’re just finding that the rate of growth in what people are spending or contributing to their premiums is climbing faster than growth in median income," says Collins.
Premium costs rose more than 13 percent in just one year, between 2016 and 2017.
Collins says legislation could help alleviate some of the growing burden.
"So Congress could actually mandate that a certain set of services be excluded from people’s deductibles in addition to these preventative care costs, like certain prescription drugs," says Collins.
In Indiana, people who get insurance through work can expect total out-of-pocket costs near $7,400 a year including employee contribution and deductibles.