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While Utahns' average monthly health insurance premiums climbed 5.6 percent between 2004 and 2005, they were still lower than the national average, according to a health insurance market evaluation presented to lawmakers Wednesday.
The report blamed the increase on an argument consumers know well - that spiraling health care costs are making their health insurance pricier.
Utah's health insurers experienced a 3.7 percent increase in losses per member per month between 2004 and 2005, the Utah Insurance Department report states. The result, according to the report, was an average monthly premium increase from $162 to $171 during that same time period.
Although the increase was substantial, the report says Utah's health insurance premiums were still lower than the national average of $235 per member per month during the same time period.
Despite swelling premiums, data from Utah's health insurers suggest they are operating on conservative financial margins, according to the report.
Over the past 11 years, the top insurers in the comprehensive health insurance industry have experienced an average financial gain of 0.68 percent in net income per year. Since 1999, however, Utah's major insurers have experienced an average financial gain of 1.72 percent in net income, the report states.
The report also revealed the number of Utahns covered by comprehensive health insurance is declining, primarily because of a shift by large employers and other large group plans from commercial insurance to self-funding arrangements.
But recent increases in the number of people who are actually uninsured and the number of people covered by government-sponsored health benefit plans may also be contributing factors.
In 1999, 9.1 percent of Utahns were uninsured versus 11.6 percent in 2005, said Jeffrey Hawley, a research analyst for the Utah Insurance Department.
"We're going in the wrong direction," he said.
Another 18.1 percent receive government-sponsored insurance, such as Medicare, Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
About 31.6 percent are covered under a commercial insurance plan - plans marketed by an insurance company to provide health benefits to insured persons - and 38.8 percent get their insurance through employer sponsored self-funded health benefit plans.
The Utah Insurance Department on Wednesday recommended that legislators:
* Create a fully funded legislative task force to study the rising costs of health care.
* Require transparency of sales in the health insurance industry.
* Set up a no-fault medical malpractice dispute-resolution system modeled after workers' compensation insurance.