What were average individual health insurance premiums in 2009 before ACA?

1. What the best available 2009 survey actually reports

A comprehensive 2009 survey of the individual market compiled by KFF (using insurers’ data) reports an average annual premium for single coverage of $2,985 in 2009, and provides state and plan‑type breakdowns that show substantial variation across ages and product types ^[1].

2. Federal analyses focus on growth rates, not a single dollar

HHS analyses and ASPE reports emphasize how rapidly premiums were rising in that pre‑ACA period: the average year‑over‑year increase in the individual market was 10.8% in 2009 (with 9.9% in 2008 and 11.7% in 2010), which helps explain why policymakers and analysts used growth rates to characterize the market more than headline dollar amounts ^[2].

3. Why different sources give different impressions

Private marketplace firms such as eHealth have published dramatic percentage increases across longer spans (for example, comparing 2008 to later years), but their figures reflect a selected set of shoppers or plans and different time windows rather than a nationally representative survey of 2009 premiums; eHealth’s headline about a 147% increase between 2008 and 2017 is methodology‑specific and does not directly dispute the $2,985 average‑premium finding for 2009 ^[3].

4. What that $2,985 number does—and doesn’t—mean

The KFF survey’s $2,985 is an average for single coverage in the individual market; it masks wide variation by age, state, product type and benefit design and does not describe employer‑sponsored premiums nor the portion of people who were uninsured in 2009 ^[1]. Available sources do not mention a single, universally comparable national figure for family individual‑market premiums in 2009 in the same table, though the survey does provide family averages in its broader tables ^[1].

5. Context: employers, workers and premiums paid

For workers in employer plans, government labor data show rising employer and employee costs through 2009: the average flat monthly employee contribution for single coverage rose to about $92.43 in 2009, and family contributions averaged $349.36 per month—numbers that reflect employer‑sponsored coverage dynamics rather than the nongroup (individual) market average premium ^[4].

6. Why analysts emphasize pre‑ACA yearly increases

Multiple policy analyses used the steep pre‑ACA annual increases—roughly 10% per year for individual market premiums around 2008–2010—to argue the market was unstable and that reforms were needed; ASPE and the Commonwealth Fund highlighted these rates as the baseline for judging post‑ACA premium trends ^{[2] [5]}.

7. Limitations, disagreements and how to read these sources

Different datasets answer different questions: KFF’s survey gives a dollar‑level snapshot of 2009 (single coverage $2,985) while ASPE and Commonwealth Fund emphasize growth rates and regulatory effects (10.8% increase in 2009; “10% or more a year” in the years just before ACA) ^{[1] [2] [5]}. Private vendor analyses use their customers’ shopping data and longer windows, producing larger percentage changes that are not directly comparable to the KFF national survey ^[3]. All sources show the same broad story: costs were rising quickly before ACA, but the exact headline depends on sample and method ^{[2] [5] [3]}.

8. Bottom line for readers who want a single 2009 figure

If you need a representative 2009 national dollar estimate for single (individual‑market) coverage, cite KFF’s survey: average annual single coverage premium = $2,985 in 2009 ^[1]. For commentary about how the market was changing, cite year‑over‑year growth (about 10.8% in 2009) from ASPE and contemporaneous analyses ^{[2] [5]}.