While others may have enjoyed a nice Valentine’s Day with friends or loved ones yesterday, your mind is other places. That’s because you know there’s no money left for chocolate and flowers thanks to all these rising health costs!

February is the time when you’re starting to feel the effects of high deductible health plans (HDHPs), whether you’re an employee feeling it personally or a broker hearing about the dissatisfaction from your clients.

Not sure what I’m talking about? Let’s take a quick walk down statistics lane:

Rising Premiums

Rising premiums are forcing companies to turn to high deductible health plans (HDHPs) in order to offset costs.

  • 6% increase in premium for 2017
  • 78% increase in family premiums since 2006

Rising HDHPs

High Deductible Health Plans require employees to shoulder more of the cost.

  • $2,196 is the average deductible for an individual HDHP
  • The average deductible has risen 67% since 2010
  • The minimum deductible for HDHPs is $1,300 for individual and $2,600 for family
  • HDHP out-of-pocket (OOP) maximums have been steadily rising
    • 2015
      • Individual: $6,000
      • Family: $13,200
    • 2016
      • Individual: $6,850
      • Family: $13,700
    • 2017
      • Individual: $7,150
      • Family: $14,000

Rising OOP

  • Patients with an HDHP experienced nearly a 230% increase in out-of-pocket costs from 2005 to 2015.
  • Because wage increases aren’t keeping up with the increase in healthcare costs, people are spending more of their income on health insurance than ever before.
  • Prescription drug prices are also rising
    • Rx costs increased 9.8% last year, compared to food and alcohol (2.8% increase) and clothing (5.7% increase).

It’s Time for a Solution

Here’s what you need to know: Ultimate Health can reimburse for high deductibles, prescriptions, co-pays and so much more. That way, this time next year your wife will be happy you came through in the chocolate and flowers department—I know mine will be.

Happy day after Valentine’s Day. You’ve got a whole year to get it right.

Sources:
Employers Project Health Premium Hike of 6% in 2017
Kaiser Family Foundation
Becker’s Hospital Review
CBS News
Towers Watson
ObamaCare Facts
Becker’s Hospital Review
National Conference of State Legislatures
Time