Countries With the Highest Health Insurance Rates

Enrollment in the health insurance market has soared this year. The increase was due to the increased tax and eligibility requirements that were part of the American Rescue Plan signed by President Joe Biden in 2021, according to the Urban Institute.

But the tax credits are set to expire at the end of this year. The Urban Institute estimates that if the increases do not increase, 3.1 million more people will be uninsured in 2023, and the remaining enrollees will spend hundreds of dollars per person in premiums.

And premiums are just the beginning. Most US families don’t have enough money to pay for health insurance deductibles, according to analysis and the Kaiser Family Foundation. About a third of families with private insurance in 2019 could not pay $2,000, and half could not pay $6,000, according to KFF.

And that leads to medical debt. About one in ten adults – or about 23 million people – has medical debt, according to KFF. This includes 11 million who owe more than $2,000 and 3 million people who owe more than $10,000.

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That money is destroying the wages of the American people. Initial contributions and withdrawals accounted for 11.6% of median income in 2020, up from 9.1% in 2010, according to Commonwealth Fund.

Americans spend more on health care than any other country –$12,318 per person, according to the OECD; that’s $4,935 more than the next most expensive country, Germany, which spends $7,383 per capita.

The cost of health care is not only a problem for those who pay on their own or on the market, it is becoming a burden even for large employers who provide benefits to their employees. In 2021 research and the Kaiser Family Foundation found that many, many employers’ health care costs are increasing and that the cost of providing health care to employees will remain unsustainable over the next five to 10 years. About 85% of the respondents believe that there should be greater government roles in providing services and funding. One of the interviewees also said when asking the following questions, “if the government is getting involved, who would it be?”

The list shows the average cost of health insurance in each of the 50 states, ranging from $831 a month in West Virginia, the most expensive state, to $309 a month in the least expensive.

The numbers are derived Penguin tree, which compiled cost estimates from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services website. Using prices and premiums for each plan, averages were calculated for different variables such as metal sector, family size or region. Average prices for each country are calculated from a 40 year old silver plan.

1. West Virginia

Monthly cost: $831
Annual cost: $9,972
Difference between countries: + 53.72%

There are several factors that cause some countries to spend more than others. One of them is called “silver loading,” where insurers increase their premiums to cover the costs that are not covered in order to reduce cost sharing. You can read more about silver loading at Brookings.

West Virginia is one of the three states that does not allow silver mining, and this is one of the reasons why wages are so high here, as explained and the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy. They also show How will West Virginians pay? if American Rescue Plan tax credits are allowed to expire at the end of the year.