In the United States, annual premiums for employer-sponsored family health coverage rose moderately this year, giving companies the opportunity to reduce costs without cutting benefits for employees.
In 2013, annual premiums reached US$16,351, up 4% from last year, with workers paying $4,565, on average, toward the cost of their coverage, according to the 2013 Employer Health Benefits Survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research & Educational Trust (HRET), an affiliate of the American Hospital Association (AHA).
This year’s rise in premiums is moderate compared to previous years. Since 2003, premiums have increased 80%, which is almost three times as fast as wages (31%) and inflation (27%), according to the California-based Kaiser Family Foundation.
Slower premium growth makes it easier for employers to provide affordable health coverage to their workers, said Maulik Joshi, president of HRET and senior vice-president for research at AHA.
Additionally, the figures show that this year, 78% of all covered workers face a general annual deductible, up from 72% in 2012. The average deductible this year for worker-only coverage is $1,135, just slightly up from the $1,097 average deductible last year.
Wellness programs
The report also shows that almost all large employers (those with at least 200 workers) offer at least one wellness program, which can take many forms and target a wide range of conditions. More than one-third of large employers that offer wellness programs provide some financial incentive for workers to participate, such as lower premiums, lower deductibles and gift cards.
Among large firms offering health benefits, more than half provide biometric screenings to measure workers’ health risks. Of these, 11% reward or penalize employees financially, based on whether they achieve specific biometric outcomes.
Wellness programs are seen as the most popular strategy for controlling costs. In 2013, 35% of American employers consider them to be a very effective measure for controlling expenses. Other less popular strategies include disease management and consumer-driven health plans.
Affordable Care Act
Under the new Affordable Care Act (ACA), which was signed into law in 2010, American employers will be able to offer their staff even more financial carrots and sticks for improving their health. While some of the ACA’s provisions have already been implemented, many more will take effect in the coming years.
“This will be an important issue to watch next year, as employers will have more flexibility and could ask workers to pay more because of their lifestyles and health conditions,” says Gary Claxton, vice-president of the Kaiser Family Foundation and the study’s lead investigator.
The survey finds that 36% of covered workers are in grandfathered plans as defined by the ACA, down from 48% last year. The shift means a rising share of workers will benefit from some of the health law’s reforms affecting the employer market, such as covering preventive benefits without cost sharing and offering an external appeals process, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Availability of benefits
The availability of health benefits in the U.S. has remained relatively unchanged, according to the report. This year, 57% of firms offer health benefits to their workers—compared with 61% in 2012 and 60% in 2011.
Generally, the larger a company is, the more likely it is to offer health benefits—but most firms in the U.S. are small. Also, organizations with many low-wage workers are significantly less likely to offer health insurance compared to firms with few low-wage workers—23% and 60%, respectively.
The survey was conducted earlier this year and included 2,948 randomly selected firms with three or more employees.