A new survey finds Wisconsinites pay more for health insurance than the rest of the country and the cost is rising at a faster rate.
The consulting firm Mercer finds employers and their workers in Wisconsin paid an average of nearly $11,000 per employee for health insurance in 2009. That’s nearly 22 percent above the national average of about $8,900.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports the cost of health benefits for employees nationally rose 5.5 percent for the year, the smallest annual increase in a decade. In Wisconsin, costs increased by 6.8 percent.
Mercer surveyed more than 2,900 employers, including 88 in Wisconsin.
Meanwhile, the Wisconsin Supreme Court is weighing whether insurance companies can refuse to pay the maternity costs of surrogate mothers.
The court has agreed to review a dispute between MercyCare HMO and two surrogate mothers denied coverage by the company during their pregnancies.
The company had a policy of covering pregnant women, but excluding surrogate mothers who act as “gestational carriers” for others’ babies.
The Wisconsin Commissioner of Insurance said the company could not deny them benefits, saying insurers should not be free to inquire why customers are pregnant.
The company appealed and a Rock County judge ruled in its favor, saying the exclusion was appropriate.
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