The Times Are Not A-Changin’

When President Barack Obama first ran for president in 2008, universal health care seemed like a real possibility. Fast forward seven years later: Employer-sponsored health care is still the main game in town. Has the impacted in the last few years, or is it just business as usual?

Source: F. Antolín Hernández (Flickr/CC)

Source: F. Antolín Hernández (Flickr/CC)

A new study from the Kaiser Family Foundation examined whether employers have changed their annual premiums and health benefits in the last two years, and what health insurance premiums are like for low wage workers and those employed by small businesses.

The study sample included surveys of private firms and non-federal government employers with three or more employees. The surveys were weighed by industry and scaled to represent the composition of jobs in today’s market.

The survey found that in 2014, the total amount of employers offering health benefits was 55%, similar to 2013. The average annual premium (employer and worker contributions combined) for single coverage was $6,025, about 2% higher than in 2013. Family premiums were 3% higher. Average deductibles and the majority of cost sharing were similar as well.

Most of the covered employees (69%) belong to large firms (>200 employees). Employers with a larger amount of lower wage workers (>35%) were more likely to have lower average annual health premiums, but higher average employee contributions for family coverage. Employees who were younger than 26 and workers in health plans offered by employers that had unions had lower annual health premiums. Employees with health plans contributed on average 18% for single coverage and 29% of family premiums, but this varied considerably by firm size.

These finding suggest that the Affordable Care Act hasn’t significantly changed the employer insurance market. This is in part due the until 2015 as well as exemptions of some large employers from defined benefits packages. Time will tell if changes will occur in the future as more provisions are implemented. In the meantime, employers will continue to explore cost-containment strategies such as narrow networks, health wellness plans, and private insurance exchanges.

commentary by Maria Portela Martinez, MD, MPH

Dr. Martinez was a Mongan Commonwealth Fund Fellow in Minority Health Policy. She also worked on the documentary “En Sus Zapatos: Challenges of the Primary Care Physician.”

Abstract

The annual Kaiser Family Foundation/Health Research and Educational Trust Employer Health Benefits Survey found that in 2014 the average annual premium (employer and worker contributions combined) for single coverage was $6,025, similar to 2013. The premium for family coverage was $16,834—3 percent higher than a year ago. Average deductibles and most other cost-sharing amounts were similar to those in 2013. On average, in 2014 covered workers paid nearly $5,000 per year for family health insurance premiums, and 18 percent of covered workers were in a plan with an annual single coverage deductible of $2,000 or more. Fifty-five percent of employers offered health benefits in 2014, similar to 2013. The Affordable Care Act has not yet led to substantial changes in the employer-based market. However, the next few years could present a different picture as delayed provisions and other changes take effect. This year’s survey included new questions on firms’ policies related to enrolling spouses and dependents, enrollment in private exchanges, and the use of narrow networks and financial incentives for wellness programs. PMID: 25214470

Claxton, G et al. Health Aff. 2014. 33(10): 1851-60.

 

One Reply to “The Times Are Not A-Changin’”

Comments are closed.