Employer-based health insurance can be costly
How affordable your employer-based health insurance is can depend on where you live in, a new analysis from the Commonwealth Fund finds.
More than 61% of U.S. adults under age 65 received health insurance through their employers in 2023, making it the nation’s largest source of coverage for workers. The average U.S. worker contributed about $10,622 toward their family health insurance plan’s premium and deductible, according to the March 13 analysis. But that total varied widely from state to state.
In Tennessee, for example, employees contributed an average of $12,362 for family coverage, while people in South Dakota contributed $12,266. On the low end, employee contributions for premiums and deductibles on a family plan in Oregon were just $7,464.
For single-person coverage, the average annual amount workers contributed to their premiums ranged from $1,060 in Hawaii to $2,145 in Vermont.
Overall, the least affordable states for workers were Mississippi, where health insurance premiums and deductibles for single-employee coverage accounted for 12% of median income, and Louisiana, where health insurance premiums and deductibles for family coverage accounted for nearly 15% of median household income.
While income growth helped improve affordability in 2023, premium contributions and deductibles for family coverage accounted for 10% or more of median income in 22 states, the researchers found.
Under the Affordable Care Act, employer-sponsored health coverage in 2023 was considered unaffordable if premium contributions were greater than 9.12% of an employee’s household income. Workers with unaffordable plans are eligible for assistance through the federal health insurance marketplace.
To help people who have unaffordable employer-sponsored plans, study researchers suggested Congress further adjust that threshold, which dropped to 9.02% in 2025. They also called for permanently extending enhanced marketplace premium tax credits, which are set to expire at the end of this year. Without that extension, as many as 4 million more people in the U.S. may become uninsured.
Global temperatures exceed climate change limits
A new report confirms 2024 was the first calendar year in which the average annual global temperature exceeded a crucial climate change threshold.
According to a March 19 report from the U.N.’s World Meteorological Organization, last year was the Earth’s warmest recorded in 175 years of observation, with a global mean near-surface temperature of 1.55 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial era levels.
That temperature is especially notable because it exceeds the 1.5 degrees Celsius benchmark set by climate experts under the 2015 Paris agreement. The standard amount was chosen to help prevent the devastating and potentially irreversible impacts of human-caused climate change.
The report documented other troubling meteorological trends in 2024, such as increasing ocean warming that will be irreversible for hundreds of years, rising atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, decreasing Antarctic sea ice and retreating glaciers. Researchers also reported the rate of sea level rise has doubled since satellite measurements began.
Tropical cyclones, floods, droughts and other extreme weather hazards driven by the changing climate contributed to worsening food crises, massive economic losses and population displacements around the globe last year.
Despite the temperature rise, report authors said it is still possible to limit global temperature rise and meet the goals of the Paris agreement, through which countries pledged to scale back their greenhouse gas emissions. They encouraged nations to see the findings as a wake-up call to invest in clean, renewable energy sources and early warning systems to protect residents.
In the U.S., which is one of the world’s top three emitters of greenhouse gases, the Trump administration has rolled back work to limit emissions and begun work to remove the country from the Paris agreement. The administration is also working to remove the U.S. from the World Health Organization, which is coordinating global work to combat climate change and protect human health.
More babies being admitted to NICUs
Admission rates at U.S. neonatal intensive care units, also known as NICUs, are increasing, a new federal data brief finds.
Released March 19 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics, the brief said the percentage of infants admitted to a NICU in the U.S. rose 13% from 2016 to 2023. NICUs are specialized hospital facilities that provide intensive care for newborns, particularly those who are born preterm or have medical complications.
By population, the largest increase in NICU patients occurred among American Indian and Alaska Native babies, who had 19% more admissions in 2023 than 2016. Overall, NICU admission rates were highest for Black, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, and American Indian and Alaska Native babies, and lowest for Asian infants.
By state, Mississippi — which is consistently ranked as one of the nation’s poorest and least healthy states — had the highest rate of increase in NICU admissions over the study period, at 37%. Other substantial increases occurred in Alabama, Arkansas and New Hampshire.
While the brief did not explore the reasons for the increases, previous research has linked increasing maternal ages and greater incidence of obesity-related diseases with growing rates of premature or low-weight births. More U.S. hospitals also now have NICU units and beds, which may contribute to increased utilization, other research has suggested.
Other recent public health news of note:
• Fewer Americans say they are in good mental and physical health, with rates falling to the lowest level in two decades, a new Gallup poll finds.
• New research in Communications Earth & Environment says hotter, drier air from global warming is driving more respiratory inflammation, which is associated with such conditions as asthma, allergic rhinitis and chronic cough.
• Nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and other emissions from gas stoves can pose health and safety risks. A new report from the Government Accountability Office says regulatory, economic, consumer and technological factors can hinder work to improve their safety.
• The Department of Veterans Affairs announced March 17 that it will end access to gender-affirming medical and surgical care to veterans affairs and their families.
• Nearly a third of all U.S. children have a chronic disease, according to a new study in Academic Pediatrics. The increase is driven mainly by asthma, prediabetes, ADHD, autism, depression and anxiety, researchers said.
• Medical infusion bags, which are used with rehydration, chemotherapy and other patient procedures, can release thousands of microplastics, a recent study in Environment & Health finds.
• A June 2024 advisory from the U.S. surgeon general that declared gun violence a public health crisis has been removed from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services website by the Trump administration. Gun violence, which ended the lives of 46,726 people in the U.S. in 2023, is the leading cause of death for U.S. children.
• New findings in BMJ Open link occupational exposure to vapors, gas, dust and fumes with chronic bronchitis.
The Watch is written by Michele Late, who has more than two decades of experience as a public health journalist.