Where Americans Live Affects Health Insurance Costs

AHRQ News and Numbers

Release date: August 8, 2006

Health insurance premium costs for job-related family coverage varied in 2004 by as much as $4,000 a year between the most expensive and least expensive States, according to new data released by the Department of Health and Human Services' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

• The most expensive average cost for family coverage was in the District of Columbia—$11,742.
• The least expensive average cost for family coverage was in North Dakota—$7,800.
• The average national cost for family coverage was $10,006.
• The next four states with the most expensive family health coverage and their average premium costs:
  • New Jersey—$11,425.
  • New Hampshire—$11,156.
  • Connecticut—$11,035.
  • Maine—$10,823.
• The next four states with the least expensive family health coverage and their average premium costs:
  • Arkansas—$8,383.
  • Hawaii—$8,580.
  • Utah—$8,654.
  • Idaho—$8,908.

Health insurance premiums can be paid entirely by the employer or by the employee, or the two parties can share the cost. Family policies cover the employee and his eligible family members.

AHRQ, an Agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, works to improve the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of health care in the United States. The data in this AHRQ News and Numbers summary is taken from the Agency's Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), a highly detailed source of information on health care use, health care expenses, access to services, health status, and the quality of the health care obtained.

For more on this AHRQ News and Numbers topic, go to State Differences in the Cost of Job-Related Health Insurance, 2004, MEPS Statistical Brief No. 135 (PDF Help) and the MEPS Insurance Component Tables.

For more information, or to arrange an interview with an AHRQ data expert, please contact Bob Isquith at Bob.Isquith@ahrq.hhs.gov or call (301) 427-1539.

Current as of August 2006.

Internet Citation:

Where Americans Live Affects Health Insurance Costs. AHRQ News and Numbers, August 8, 2006. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/news/nn/nn080806.htm