According to the Milliman Medical Index, health care costs have risen 4.1% over the past year, and that's without taking COVID-19 into consideration. But where are employer-sponsored health insurance costs hitting purses the hardest? The insurance research specialists at AdvisorSmith compiled a report that examined health insurance premiums from 73 U.S. cities to find the average premiums paid per employee. The Northeast took seven of the ten top spots for highest premiums, while the South had some of the lowest with six of the bottom ten cities in the study. Related: 10 states where insurance premiums have increased the most AdvisorSmith also considered three years' worth of data to determine the fastest-growing cities for business health insurance costs. Although there is some overlap with the highest-premium list, the top city for fastest-rising health insurance costs is Jackson, MS, where the average cost of health insurance for businesses rose from $4,735 per employee to $7,142. That amounts to a rise of 51%. AdvisorSmith's study used data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, which is conducted by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The most recent year available was 2018. To determine the growth rate of business costs for health insurance, data from the period 2013-2018 was used. Check out the top ten most expensive cities for business health insurance premiums in our slideshow above, and click here to read the full study. Read more: 

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