AVERAGE COST OF EMPLOYER HEALTH COVERAGE TOPS 18,000 FOR FAMILY IN 2016
Wall Street Journal
"The average cost of health coverage offered by employers pushed above $18,000 for a family plan this year, though the growth was slowed by the accelerating shift into high-deductible plans, according to a major survey."
"Annual premium cost rose 3% to $18,142 for an employer family plan in 2016, from $17,545 last year, according to the annual poll of employers performed by the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation along with the Health Research & Educational Trust, a nonprofit affiliated with the American Hospital Association.
(The) newest Kaiser survey highlights the effects of another shift: the continuing growth of plans that involve higher out-of-pocket costs in the form of deductibles.
Employers’ efforts to stem cost increases are the major driver behind the shift, said Drew Altman, chief executive of the Kaiser Family Foundation. High-deductible plans typically have significantly lower premiums than other types of plans. “Practically, it’s a step they can take to keep their costs down,” he said.
This year, 29% of covered workers were enrolled in high-deductible plans that can be paired with savings accounts that aren’t taxed, up from 24% last year and 20% in 2014.
At the same time, the share of employees with health coverage who had traditional preferred provider organization plans was just 48% this year—the first time it had dipped below half since 2001, when health-maintenance organizations were more prominent.
In another milestone, for the first time, more than half of workers had a deductible of more than $1,000 for a plan covering a single person. The share was 51%, compared with 46% last year.
A separate Kaiser foundation poll of consumers, performed in June, found that among insured people, deductibles were cited more often than premiums as the greatest financial burden related to health care.
The survey has shown a long-term decline in the share of very small employers offering coverage. Among employers with 10 to 49 employees, 66% offered health benefits this year, down from 76% in 2012."
Wall Street Journal
"The average cost of health coverage offered by employers pushed above $18,000 for a family plan this year, though the growth was slowed by the accelerating shift into high-deductible plans, according to a major survey."
"Annual premium cost rose 3% to $18,142 for an employer family plan in 2016, from $17,545 last year, according to the annual poll of employers performed by the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation along with the Health Research & Educational Trust, a nonprofit affiliated with the American Hospital Association.
(The) newest Kaiser survey highlights the effects of another shift: the continuing growth of plans that involve higher out-of-pocket costs in the form of deductibles.
Employers’ efforts to stem cost increases are the major driver behind the shift, said Drew Altman, chief executive of the Kaiser Family Foundation. High-deductible plans typically have significantly lower premiums than other types of plans. “Practically, it’s a step they can take to keep their costs down,” he said.
This year, 29% of covered workers were enrolled in high-deductible plans that can be paired with savings accounts that aren’t taxed, up from 24% last year and 20% in 2014.
At the same time, the share of employees with health coverage who had traditional preferred provider organization plans was just 48% this year—the first time it had dipped below half since 2001, when health-maintenance organizations were more prominent.
In another milestone, for the first time, more than half of workers had a deductible of more than $1,000 for a plan covering a single person. The share was 51%, compared with 46% last year.
A separate Kaiser foundation poll of consumers, performed in June, found that among insured people, deductibles were cited more often than premiums as the greatest financial burden related to health care.
The survey has shown a long-term decline in the share of very small employers offering coverage. Among employers with 10 to 49 employees, 66% offered health benefits this year, down from 76% in 2012."
