Connecticut’s private employers have seen the price of health insurance premiums for workers and their families rise 102 percent since 1999, an analysis by C-HIT shows. The amount that families pay for this coverage rose an even steeper 107 percent.
The increases came during a decade when median household income in Connecticut grew by less than one third.
C-HIT’s review also found wide geographic variations in the insurance premiums charged for Connecticut families.
Workers in Fairfield County, specifically the Stamford-Norwalk-Bridgeport area, pay an average family premium of $13,612 – a lower rate than for those living around Hartford, where it’s $14,251, or New Haven, which tops the state at $14,884. The average in the rest of the state is $13,649.
The C-HIT analysis also found that state employees pay considerably less, on average, for family premiums than do workers for private businesses. For example, in fiscal year 2009 state employees enrolled in the Anthem point-of-service plan paid $2,447 toward health insurance, or 15 percent, with taxpayers covering the rest of the $16,278 premium.
For employees in the private and non-profit sectors, the average 2009 contribution was $3,511.
