It’s no secret that private health insurance is expensive and that, over time, employers have passed more and more of the cost onto workers and their families. Still, when federal policy changes are being contemplated, there is often the sense that families have access to employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) to fall back on. This is especially true in the case of families whose children qualify for CHIP.

A key question is whether ESI is affordable. The Urban Institute has done the analysis for us and provides interactive state-level data that you can find here.

This new resource for policy makers and health coverage stakeholders allows the user to examine the growth of ESI premiums, as well as the employee’s contribution for family coverage, since 2001. For example, I took a look at Georgia, where employee contributions have increased 177 percent over the past 15 years, although overall premiums have only increased by 148 percent. In neighboring South Carolina, the increase in employee contributions has risen 250 percent while total premiums have only increased by 137 percent. It’s important to note that these costs do not include deductibles and other cost-sharing that families would be required to pay to access services.

Importantly, workers in low-wage firms pay more than the average across all firms: $5,978 compared to $5,506. Although state-level data is not available for low-wage firms, the national data confirms what we all know – low-wage workers pay a higher share of income for coverage.

These are the families most likely to rely on Medicaid and CHIP for their children’s coverage. Bucking the trends in premiums and employee contributions overall, the growth of employee contributions in low-wage firms has not slowed in recent years. These contributions rose 38 percent from 2001 to 2006, 37 percent from 2006 to 2011, and 41 percent from 2011 to 2016.

As Congress continues to contemplate cuts to Medicaid and has yet to take action to extend CHIP funding beyond September 2017, lawmakers should not be lulled into believing that low-income families have access to other affordable coverage. This new resource from Urban illustrates how this is simply not the case.