Spending on health insurance for state employees was up slightly in 2013 over the previous two years, with the cost varying widely from state to state, according to a first-of-its-kind analysis from the State Health Care Spending Project, an initiative of MacArthur and The Pew Charitable Trusts. The report shows that 49 states (data for Pennsylvania were unavailable) insured 2.7 million state employee households in 2013 and spent nearly $31 billion on health insurance. Paying for employee health insurance is second only to Medicaid as a portion of states’ overall health care spending. The report examines factors driving spending on state employee health care, and states’ ability to influence these factors.
