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Regional Cost Categories
Costs for medical care differ across the United States. To ensure equity in how the Medical Plan options are priced, JPMorgan Chase applies the concept of geographic cost differences to the Medical Plan. Under the Plan, each state or region is assigned to a "Regional Cost Category" based on the cost of health care for that region in relation to the national average.
The Regional Cost Category for your home state or region will be a factor in determining your medical payroll contributions, along with the other factors described in "Cost of Coverage."
The following chart shows the different Regional Cost Categories for Medical Plan coverage (categories are the same for Option 1 and Option 2).
Regional Cost Category*
Locations
Category 1 (lowest cost category)
California; Colorado; Evansville and Jeffersonville, Indiana; Kansas; Nebraska; New York (excluding Metro New York); Utah; Washington
Category 2
Arizona; Arkansas; Delaware; Georgia; Illinois (excluding Chicago); Iowa; Kentucky; Maryland; Missouri; Nevada; North Carolina; Oklahoma; Oregon; Pennsylvania; South Carolina; Austin and San Antonio, Texas; Virginia; Washington, D.C.
Category 3
Alabama; Alaska; Florida; Hawaii; Idaho; Chicago, Illinois; Gary, Indiana; Maine; Massachusetts; Michigan; Minnesota; Mississippi; Montana; New Hampshire; New Mexico; North Dakota; Ohio; Rhode Island; South Dakota; Tennessee; Houston, Texas; Vermont; Wyoming
Category 4
Connecticut; Indiana (excluding Evansville, Gary and Jeffersonville); New Jersey; Metro New York; Dallas, Texas
Category 5 (highest cost category)
Louisiana; West Virginia; Wisconsin
*Category numbers range from 1-5 (with 1 being the lowest cost; and 5 being the highest cost)