In 1995, private health insurance premiums continued to grow at a slow rate, increasing just 2.6 percent from the previous year. Employer-sponsored private health insurance premiums grew only slightly faster than overall premiums. In recent years, many employers shifted more of the premium burden to their employees by either requiring workers to contribute to their own health insurance premiums or by raising the required employee premium more rapidly than overall premium cost growth. 3 Individual policy premiums also include premiums paid by individuals who purchase insurance through non-employer groups. Therefore, it is likely that the rapid expansion of managed care enrollment in the 1990's had the effect of boosting the employee share of total premiums.
Households pay for health care costs out of available income.
On average, the burden to households has remained stable over time. This website is an official service of the Health Care Financing Administration .