Private Sector Employee-Only Health Premium Costs in the North Central Region

The annual cost for single premium (i.e. employee-only) health insurance coverage for private sector employers in the North Central region of the U.S. is mostly lower than national average levels. Single premium health insurance rates for small firms, with fewer than 50 employees, in all seven states in the region are, on average, below the average rate for similar sized employers nationally.  This also is true for larger employers in the region, except in Minnesota and South Dakota.  A deeper look at the data from the most recent Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (2019), which is administered by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, tells us the following about private sector employee-only health premium costs in the North Central region and nationally:

State	(1) Small Firms	(2) Large Firms	Overall Avg.
IA	$5,989	$6,788	$6,657
KS	$5,907	$6,431	$6,338
MN	$6,419	$6,990	$6,904
MO	$6,366	$6,904	$6,800
NE	$6,402	$6,668	$6,628
ND	$6,864	$6,630	$6,681
SD	$6,903	$7,226	$7,161
U.S.	$6,920	$6,983	$6,972

(1) fewer than 50 employees

(2) 50 or more employees

Source:  Medical Expenditure Panel Survey  Table II.C.1 - Average total single premium (in dollars) per enrolled employee at private-sector establishments that offer health insurance by firm size and State: United States, 2019

20 Best Metropolitan Areas for Clinical Lab Tech Pay

Last December we took a look at Clinical Lab Tech Pay in the Top 20 Metro Markets.  U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data reveals that, without question, the biggest population metro areas are major employment centers for clinical lab technologists and technicians. However, a deeper dive into the BLS data makes it clear that clinical lab techs employed in smaller metro markets very often attain better compensation levels than do their larger market counterparts. In fact, May 2019 data from the BLS reveals that only one of the 20 largest metro markets in the U.S. were among the 20 best metropolitan areas for clinical lab tech pay:

	Metropolitan Area		# Employed	Annual Mean Wages
1	Vineland-Bridgeton, NJ		90	$80,560
2	Carson City, NV		50	$78,400
3	Anchorage, AK		370	$76,370
4	San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA		70	$75,180
5	Sacramento--Roseville--Arden-Arcade		1,690	$73,530
6	Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA		310	$73,410
7	Redding, CA		150	$72,850
8	Santa Maria-Santa Barbara, CA		220	$71,790
9	Fairbanks, AK		40	$71,670
10	Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA		170	$71,390
11	New Haven, CT		1,220	$69,870
12	Longview, WA		50	$69,070
13	Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT		660	$68,870
14	Bellingham, WA		140	$68,860
15	Salinas, CA		110	$68,610
16	New York-Newark-Jersey City (#)		18,490	$68,260
17	Corvallis, OR		100	$67,440
18	Norwich-New London-Westerly, CT-RI		330	$67,170
19	Ocean City, NJ		N/A	$66,750
20	Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford		1,120	$66,690
	National		326,020	$54,780

(#) a top 20 U.S metro population area

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics OES. Data extracted on December 5, 2020