October 19, 2018
The Kaiser Family Foundation’s 2018 Employer Health Benefits Survey provides an annual update of the employer-sponsored benefits industry by interviewing HR and benefits managers at over 2,000 firms nationwide on health insurance, costs, enrollment, premium, prescription drug benefits, wellness benefits and more. Here are a few key findings:
Healthcare Costs
- Eighty-five percent of individuals with employer-sponsored coverage have an annual deductible. Of those employees, 58 percent have a deductible of $1,000 or more for single coverage.
- Since 2008, deductibles have increased by 212 percent.
- Employees with single coverage pay an average of $1,200 in premiums each year. That is 65 percent more than what they paid 10 years ago.
- Over the past five years at large fully and self-insured firms, the average family premium has increased by approximately 20 percent.
- If you work at a large firm, you pay smaller out-of-pocket premiums.
Plan Type
- Forty-nine percent of covered employees are enrolled in PPOs, followed by HDHPs (29%), HMOs (16%), POS plans (6%) and conventional plans (<1%).
- Eighty percent of employers surveyed offer their employees only one type of health plan.
Prescription Drugs
- Fifty-one percent of employers offer prescription drug benefits with four or more cost-sharing tiers compared to 44 percent in 2017.
- The average copay for fourth-tier drug, like a specialty medication, is $105 compared to $11 for a first-tier drug, such as a generic.