Chart of the Day: Health Care Premiums Hardly Increased at All This Year

The Kaiser Family Foundation announced today that large corporations now pay an average of nearly $20,000 per employee for family health premiums. In order to give you a better idea of what this means, here’s a chart showing how much that’s grown from last year:

Adjusted for inflation, big employers are paying about 1.3 percent more for family premiums. At the same time, Obamacare premiums this year will barely rise at all—and if it weren’t for deliberate sabotage efforts by Republicans, Obamacare premiums probably would have declined.

Health care costs are still rising faster than inflation. However, for the past decade there have been only a couple of years with substantial increases. The average increase has been less than 3 percent. It’s still a problem, but it’s a problem that’s getting smaller all the time.

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None of it should surprise us. The problem with American journalism has always been that we entrusted this vital public service to for-profit companies whose allegiance could shift with the political winds and the bottom line.

That is why Mother Jones is independent from billionaires, corporations, and any other deep-pockets owner—and has been since we were founded 50 years ago. We’re only answering to our readers. To you.

We’re funded by our readers too. This week, we have a generous $50,000 match for all donations, meaning that your donation—and your impact—will be doubled. Gifts from readers like you help keep us fiercely independent and telling the truth about those in power.

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