Health Insurance Costs in NH

New Hampshire Public Radio points out that the Granite Staters pay the third highest insurance premiums in the United States:

The numbers are simple and stark: individual health insurance in New Hampshire costs about $5200 a year.

That’s up from about $3500 in 2003 – an increase of 47 percent, according to a new study by the nonprofit Commonwealth Fund.

The numbers are drawn from the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality, a federal database considered the gold standard for health insurance research.

New Hampshire’s dramatic growth in individual rates is almost double the nation’s average rate increase.

And it far surpasses the growth in individual health insurance premiums in any other state.

Families, too, have it tough.

It costs more than $13,500 to cover the average New Hampshire family, the third highest premiums in the country.

The full story is an interesting read, or listen, that highlights a number of causes that have driven up costs and lead to the current, complicated health care debate.

In the meantime, Rasmussen today released new health reform opinion numbers. The underlying message: confusion.