Sunday, September 05, 2010
(graphic: Southern Beauty)
By shifting more health insurance costs to workers, businesses are enjoying a double benefit for their balance sheet. Making employees with families pay a higher portion of premiums reduces the company’s share of insurance expenses. In addition, struggling families are using health services less these days due to financial constraints, which in turn results in slower increases in the overall premium charged to employers.
So far this year employers have sharply increased the share of insurance premiums to employees. According to a survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust, workers paid an average of about $4,000 toward their family coverage in 2010, which is 14% more than last year.
Meanwhile, total insurance premiums paid by employers and employees rose just 3% for a family plan—the slowest rate of growth in 10 years, reports The Wall Street Journal.
Workers with family plans now pay 30% of their premiums, compared to 26% five years ago.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Employers Sharply Raise Workers' Share of Health Costs (by Avery Johnson, Wall Street Journal)
Comments