The average monthly premium for family health coverage in New York City has increased by 13% since April 2008, from $3,866 to $4,354, according to a New York Post analysis of new data from the New York State Insurance Department. According to the analysis, of the eight insurers offering policies in New York City, six have raised their rates in the past year (Scott, New York Post, 4/20).

The increases were 35% for GHI HMO Select, 27% for Aetna Health, 15% for Health Insurance Plan of Greater New York, 10% for Atlantis Health Plan and 8% for Oxford Health Plans. There was no change for Managed Health, while Empire Healthchoice HMO cut rates by 6% (New York Post graphic, 4/20). Premiums for New York City residents who agreed to stay in-network were less costly, but the average premiums for an in-network family plan still increased by 13% from $2,624 to $2,966, according to the Post.

The insurance industry attributes the increase to state-mandated coverage minimums and a copayment structure that has been in place since the mid-1990s. Premiums are expected to increase again later this year when companies pass along the cost of more than $853 million in insurance-related taxes included in the state budget, the Post reports.

According to the Post, the increase "follows years of double-digit rate increases as tens of thousands of New Yorkers opt to drop coverage and leave insurance companies with an ever-sicker, costlier client pool." Troy Oechsner, the state's deputy superintendent for health, said, "This is a huge problem and a major dysfunction of a broken market in New York," adding, "What few healthy people there are left keep shedding and leaving coverage and going uninsured" (New York Post, 4/20).

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