New Weiss Data Shows Who Pays the Most (and the Least) for Health Insurance

Everyone has an opinion on health insurance costs -- and debate over the future of the health insurance industry continues to rage in Washington. But what does the actual data show?

Who pays the most for healthcare coverage? Who pays the least? Where are costs rising the fastest ... or the slowest? Here at Weiss Ratings, we have the newest and most pertinent data, and we’d like to share it with you.

Specifically, we recently looked into health insurance premiums across the country. We focused on state-level group and individual coverage reported by insurance companies. Our analysis covered more than 1,600 insurance companies who provided health coverage from 2009 to 2015. As of 2015, these companies provided health insurance to 47.6 million people. (Note: 2016 annual data is not yet available).

First, let’s talk about which states are the most expensive when it comes to getting group and individual healthcare plans. Our figures show Alaska has been the highest health premium state in the nation since 2009.

An Alaskan paid an average of $611.94 per month in health insurance premiums in 2015. That’s a whopping $7,343.27 per year – or 66 percent above the 2015 national annual average of $4,422.47. Wyoming came in second, with an average of $492.79 per month, while New York was third at $471.97.

If you’re looking for the cheapest health insurance premiums, you’ll have to go all the way from Alaska to Virginia. On average, a Virginian paid $268.28 per month for health insurance in 2015, or $3,219.33 per year. That’s 27.2 percent below the national annual average. Utah and Kansas were the second- and third-cheapest states in 2015, with $276.33 and $280.75 in average monthly premiums, respectively.

The complete lists of the ten most (and least) expensive states as of 2015 can be found below. We’ve also included data on what their premiums were in 2009, the year before the Affordable Care Act, and what the cumulative change in premiums has been over that time span.

Finally, you’ll see how much the average, per-state premiums for 2015 varied from the U.S. average. Our lists are sorted in descending order on that basis.

Clearly, earnings vary from state to state. So another way to view healthcare premiums is by analyzing how premiums have changed over time. The tables below show the ten states with the highest -- and the lowest -- average annual premium changes (per person, per month) over the six-year period.

Our data shows that California premiums increased an average of 11.9 percent each year over the six years through 2015, while in Virginia, they dropped by an average of 2.3 percent over the same time period. Premiums in New York and New Jersey also rose at double-digit rates, while barely budging in Kansas and Georgia.

One final note: Given all the hubbub about soaring health insurance premiums, it’s worth noting that premiums have only risen, on average, 4.6 percent each year since 2009. Or in other words, our data does not confirm the widely-held belief that premiums have risen at an extraordinary level in recent years