NYC Health Insurance Costs More Than Rent: Report

How high is the cost of health care in New York City?
    
It now costs more to buy health insurance than it does to rent a two-bedroom apartment, according to a New York Post analysis of new data from the state Insurance Department.

"This is a huge problem and a major dysfunction of a broken market in New York," said Troy Oechsner, the state's deputy superintendent for health told The Post.

The newspaper found that the average monthly premium for family health coverage is $4,354, up 13 percent from last year. That's more than the $3,947 monthly rent for a place in a no-doorman building downtown.
    
The jaw-dropping price follows years of double-digit rate increases as tens of thousands of healthy New Yorkers opt to drop coverage, leaving insurers with a sicker, costlier client pool.

Experts expect rates to rise again this year when companies pass along more than $853 million in insurance-related taxes included in the state budget.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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