How Costs Have Surged For Middle-Class American Families [View all]

[Purveyor]

09/24/2014 11:22 AM

The picture painted by a report from the Center for American Progress released Wednesday is a gloomy one.

For a typical married couple with two children, the combined cost of health care, day care, housing and savings for college and retirement jumped 32 percent from 2000 to 2012 – after adjusting for inflation. Average income barely rose in that time once you factor in inflation.

The figures marked a sharp change from the preceding 12 years ending in 2000, when average income for a four-person family rose 20 percent, after inflation, and college and health care costs rose more slowly.

Here’s how costs have grown in some key categories:

HEALTH CARE

Premiums and deductibles are higher than they were about a decade ago. And more people are paying them. Average out-of-pocket health care costs for a family of four with an employer-provided health plan jumped 85 percent to $8,600 a year from 2002 to 2012, according to the CAP report. The figures are adjusted for inflation and are for preferred-provider organization plans, which restrict coverage to certain doctors.

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