Employee Benefits

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Health Insurance Premium Growth

October 4, 2011 in Employee Benefits, Health Insurance | 7 comments

Health Insurance premium inflation is back.  According to the Kaiser Family Foundation Employer Health Benefits Survey 2011, health insurance premiums for single individuals was $5,429 for single individuals and $15,073 for a family plan.  Premium growth for single and family plans was below 6 percent per year over the last 5 years (2005-2010). However, between 2010 and 2011, premiums grew 7.5 percent for single plans and 9.5 percent for family plans.

Many economists may think that inflation is a driver, but the overall inflation rate in 2011 was only estimated to be 2.1 percent.

Additional Information from the EHBS is below.

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The Benefits Package is Here

December 6, 2010 in Carnivals | No comments

The first ever Employee Benefits Blog Carnival has been posted at the See First blog.

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Wage inequality

November 6, 2008 in Health Insurance, Labor Economics | No comments

Many economists have noted that wage growth has not kept up with overall economic growth over the past few decades.  We observe widening wage inequality since the 1970s.  Are workers getting poorer relative to the owners of capital?  Is a communist revolution needed to equalize the playing field?

Economist Martin Feldstein thinks not.  

“Feldstein concludes that…measurement mistakes have led some analysts to conclude that the rise in labor income has not kept up with the growth in productivity. The first is a focus on wages rather than total compensation: because of the rise in fringe benefits and other non-cash payments [such as health insurance], wages have not risen as rapidly as total compensation. Feldstein feels it is important to compare the productivity rise with the increase in total compensation rather than the increase in the narrower measure of just wages and salaries.”

Since health insurance costs have been increasing more than inflation over time, overall employee compensation has risen at about historical rates.  Of the compensation workers receive, however, a larger and larger percentage is going towards health insurance.  This is especially true for low income workers. This is a point I made in a post in January 2007.

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