Survey: Family insurance costs jump nearly 23 percent

The average cost of a family policy offered by employers nationally increased 22.9 percent in the past five years, according to a survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Karen Ignagni, president of the industry group America's Health Insurance Plans, said the portion of premiums that goes to administrative costs and profits has gone down. "Health insurance premiums are increasing in the individual market because of soaring medical costs and because younger and healthier people are dropping their coverage due to the economy," she said last week.

Here's how premium hikes have affected several Long Islanders.

The average cost of a family policy offered by employers nationally increased 22.9 percent in the past five years, according to a survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Karen Ignagni, president of the industry group America's Health Insurance Plans, said the portion of premiums that goes to administrative costs and profits has gone down. "Health insurance premiums are increasing in the individual market because of soaring medical costs and because younger and healthier people are dropping their coverage due to the economy," she said last week.

Here's how premium hikes have affected several Long Islanders.

Retiree Carol Cooper, 63, of Bellmore, was paying $469.65 a month for health care insurance that covered only hospital visits, blood work and tests. But when premiums jumped nearly 20 percent to $561.23 last month, she canceled her plan.

"I run four miles a day. I eat right," she said. "I'm healthy."

Instead, Cooper is signing up for an even more limited program that would cover only hospital visits, for $176.78 a month. Her plan is to hold out until she turns 65 and is covered by Medicare. "I feel that whatever I have to lay out to doctors will never be as much as the insurance," she said.

Cooper added that her husband, Roger, 65, who is on Medicare, saw his supplemental plan hiked from $79 a month in 2009 to $157 last month.

Mitchell Hagler, 47, said his Southampton shoe store normally anticipates a 10 percent increase in health care rates.

But last summer, he got notice of a roughly 25 percent increase "out of the clear blue." The monthly premiums had been just below $1,000 for a family of four before the increase, he said, and the new rates "just would not have been an option."

"We again had to switch insurance carriers," Hagler said, in order to maintain a similar premium rate. "With the switch, we suffered a decrease in benefits and an increase in out-of-pocket expenses. . . . It is a real, big problem."

Joe Conte, 25, of Franklin Square, said he was paying $305.02 last year for health coverage through a state program.

Since January, his rate went up 8 percent to $329.42, he said. "I'm paying for it. I'm not happy about it." Especially during an economic downturn, he said, "this would not be the time to seek a rate increase."

Conte, who is unemployed and considering graduate school, said he had no history of health problems. "I feel like health insurance is kind of a waste to begin with. Outside of my yearly checkup, I never use it."