The Rising Cost of Medical Insurance

We've been on our own now health insurance-wise for almost five years, rolling the dice with a high-deductible plan and, despite having our premiums rise about 20 percent last year, so far, so good. Of course, that 20 percent hike works off of a much smaller base than your standard, employer provided low-deductible plan, so, the sight of $15,000+ average premium as detailed in this McClatchy report took me a bit by surprise.

The cost of employer-provided health insurance plans rose 9 percent last year, the biggest increase since 2005, that is, back when double-digit percentage increases were the norm as documented in Open Enrollment and the CPI at the old blog.