In preparation for the opening of their State of Working America website, the folks at the Economic Policy Institute have been posting some "snapshots" of how the economy affects workers and their families, including the difference between the upward mobility of whites and blacks, the impoverishment of children and the dwindling buying power of the minimum wage.
The latest snapshot in their scrapbook shows the rocketing rise in health insurance costs.
Click here for a larger version of this chart.
Between 1999 and 2009, family health insurance premiums more than doubled while inflation rose by 28.8 percent and hourly earnings rose by 38.1 percent.
A survey released in September by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust revealed that workers lucky enough to have health benefits as part of their employment now pay an average of 30 percent of the family coverage premium and 19 percent of the premium for a single person's coverage. A year ago, those figures were 27 percent and 17 percent, respectively.