The Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association (VHHA) is bringing awareness to a new study showing health insurance premiums and deductible costs among Virginians are rising despite the state’s overall healthcare spending remaining below national levels.
“When it comes to health care spending, Virginia is in the enviable position of having expenditure rates that remain well below national levels. The same cannot be said for health insurance costs, unfortunately,” the VHHA said in a press release. “On the contrary, the amount that individuals and families across the Commonwealth spend on annual health insurance premiums and out-of-pocket deductibles continues to rise sharply year-over-year.”
“Meanwhile, the gap between what individuals and families pay for insurance, and what insurance companies pay for health care services, continues to widen,” the VHHA added.
The study, conducted by the research firm Altarum, analyzed 2022 health spending in Virginia based on data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Virginia’s All-Payer Claims Database, and other public sources.
The study found that the average single health insurance premium in 2022 was $7,400 while the average family health insurance premium was $21,400 for people with private sector employer-sponsored health care coverage. When the average cost of deductibles was included, the averages increased to $9,400 for single coverage and $25,200 for family coverage.
In addition, the study found that premiums for single coverage of a private-sector employee are up 76.6 percent and family premiums are up 79.3 percent since 2008. Total plans costs in 2022 were also 89.1 percent higher since 2008 when increases in cost sharing co-pays and deductibles for single and family plans were factored in.
Despite the rising health costs, growth in total health spending in Virginia has been restrained.
The study found that Virginia’s estimated health spending per capita in 2022 was over $1,800 less than the national average, as Virginians were found to have spent less than the national average on professional, physician, and clinical services ($260 less per capita); hospital care ($570 less per capita); nursing home, residential, and home health ($130 less per capita); prescription drugs ($340 less per capita) and other care ($510 less per capita).
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Virginia Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
