A new study shows that health care premiums in Missouri rose over four times faster than earnings.

The study, conducted by the consumer health organization Families USA, looked at income and premiums in the Show-Me State during the period of 2000 to 2007. According to the study’s authors, earnings increased by 17.3 percent compared to a 76.1 percent increase in health care premiums.

Families USA director Ron Pollack says that what is surprising is that families are paying more for insurance but getting thinner coverage. “People are getting fewer benefits covered,“ Pollack says. “And that lesser coverage comes with higher deductibles and higher co-payments and co-insurance.”

While premiums have skyrocketed, so has the number of people who choose to eschew private insurance. That takes a toll on a state’s economy, according to Pollack, because more people enroll in Medicaid or have no insurance at all. If somebody is without insurance, gets sick, and goes to the doctor, “that care is something they’re not likely to be able to pay for. Someone ultimately is going to have to pay for it,” Pollack says.

The Families USA report was conducted by studying data from the US Census Bureau, the US Department of Labor, and the US Department of Health and Human Services.

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