US insurance premiums now cost 39% more than mortgages.
This post is a part of our 30 Days of US Healthcare series. You can watch the videos in this series on YouTube and learn more about the content behind the videos here on our blog.
BY THE NUMBERS:
In 2020, families were paying premiums of about $21,000 per year.1
In 2021, their median annual mortgage payment was $15,300.2
American insurance premiums have risen by 55% over the last 10 years.
WAIT, WHAT?
💰 A premium is a monthly fee that Americans pay to their health insurance company in the hopes that their insurance will help them pay their medical bills if they get sick.
💰 The idea behind the premium is that we pay our health insurance company an affordable amount each month. Then, when we get sick, they use the premiums they’ve collected to help us pay for our medical expenses, keep us out of medical debt, and protect us from financial ruin.
I’M CONFUSED. THIS SOUNDS LIKE A GREAT IDEA!
Hold on, there’s more. Over the last decade, premiums have risen much higher than inflation, and premiums are no longer affordable for many families.
While premiums are a healthcare expense that we can plan for, there are additional medical expenses that we must pay if they become sick.
We will get into those expenses on Day 2 of the 30 Days of US Healthcare series.
1 Allen Marshall. Never Pay the First Bill: And Other Ways to Fight the Health Care System and Win. Portfolio/Penguin 2021.
2 “American Housing Survey (AHS) – AHS Table Creator.” United States Census Bureau, www.census.gov.
