Kaiser Health News has published a list of the 10 areas where health insurance is most expensive in the U.S. now that Obamacare is in effect.
Collecting data from the Kaiser Family Foundation, the government’s HealthCare.gov website and state exchanges, the health news website has determined that the most expensive area in the U.S. to purchase coverage is drumroll, please Colorado mountain resorts.
Maybe it’s the risk involved with skiing, or perhaps the population there is generally older AND more adventurous on the slopes — undoubtedly a bad combination. But Aspen, Vail and the like are at the top of the list. And while you might expect to find pricier cities like New York, San Francisco or Los Angeles to be among the top 10 for insurance premiums, they take a back seat to such places as Southern Georgia and rural Nevada.
Some of the higher pricing can be attributed to the lack of competition in the regions; many states have only one or two insurers covering virtually the entire region. But it appears a lot of it is simply due to the actuarial tables.
Here’s Kaiser’s list. Prices are premiums for the lowest-cost silver plan for a 40-year-old person:
1. Colorado Mountain Resorts: Eagle, Garfield and Pitkin counties. Aspen and Vail ski resorts included — $483.
2. Southwest Georgia: Baker, Calhoun, Clay, Crisp, Dougherty, Lee, Mitchell, Randolph, Schley, Sumter, Terrell and Worth counties – $461.
3. Rural Nevada: Esmeralda, Eureka, Humboldt, Lander, Lincoln, Elko, Mineral, Pershing, White Pine and Churchill counties – $456.
4. Western Wisconsin: Pierce, Polk and St. Croix counties — $445.
5. Southern Georgia: Ben Hill, Berrien, Brooks, Clinch, Colquitt, Cook, Decatur, Early, Echols, Grady, Irwin, Lanier, Lowndes, Miller, Seminole, Thomas, Tift and Turner counties — $423.
6. Most of Wyoming: Natrona and Laramie counties excluded — $405.
7. Southeast Mississippi: George, Harrison, Jackson and Stone counties — $399.
8. All of Vermont: $395.
9. Southwest Connecticut: Fairfield County — $383.
10. All of Alaska: $381.
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Date: February 3, 2014