Heidi Whitmore

Health Benefits In 2010: Premiums Rise Modestly, Workers Pay More Toward Coverage

Our annual analysis of health benefits contains findings from interviews of 2,046 public and private employers surveyed during January-May 2010. Average annual premiums in 2010 were

Trends In Underinsurance And The Affordability Of Employer Coverage, 2004–2007

5,049 for single coverage and

Health Benefits In 2013: Moderate Premium Increases In Employer-Sponsored Plans

13,770 for family coverage--up 5 percent and 3 percent from 2009, respectively. Workers paid more toward premiums in 2010, and more workers are in consumer-directed plans and plans with high deductibles than in 2009. Thirty percent of firms reported that they reduced the scope of benefits or increased cost sharing because of the recession. Surprisingly, the percentage of firms offering health benefits in 2010 increased to 69 percent, up from 60 percent in 2009. The change was largely driven by a thirteen-percentage-point increase in the number of firms with three to nine workers that offered benefits (up from 46 percent in 2009 to 59 percent in 2010). The reason for this increase is unclear.

Job-Based Health Insurance: Costs Climb At A Moderate Pace

Based on simulated bill paying, this paper examines trends in comprehensiveness of coverage, out-of-pocket spending for medical services, underinsurance, and the affordability of employer-based insurance from 2004 to 2007. Data are from MarketScan medical claims and an annual survey of employer health benefits. Health plans covered slightly fewer expenses in 2007 than in 2004, but out-of-pocket spending grew more than one-third because of growth in overall health spending. For people at 200 percent of poverty, the percentage spending more than 10 percent of their income out of pocket on premiums plus services increased from 13 percent to 18 percent.

HIV Testing and Referral to Care in U.S. Hospitals Prior to 2006: Results from a National Survey

Employer-sponsored health insurance premiums rose moderately in 2013, the annual Kaiser Family Foundation/Health Research and Educational Trust (Kaiser/HRET) Employer Health Benefits Survey found. In 2013 single coverage premiums rose 5 percent to

The individual insurance market before reform: low premiums and low benefits.

5,884, and family coverage premiums rose 4 percent to

Group Insurance: A Better Deal For Most People Than Individual Plans

16,351. The percentage of firms offering health benefits (57 percent) was similar to that in 2012, as was the percentage of workers at offering firms who were covered by their firms health benefits (62 percent). The share of workers with a deductible for single coverage increased significantly from 2012, as did the share of workers in small firms with annual deductibles of

In Second Year Of Marketplaces, New Entrants, ACA ‘Co-Ops,’ And Medicaid Plans Restrain Average Premium Growth Rates

1,000 or more. Most firms (77 percent), including nearly all large employers, continued to offer wellness programs, but relatively few used incentives to encourage employees to participate. More than half of large employers offering health risk appraisals to workers offered financial incentives for completing the appraisal.

Growing Diversification in HMOs, 1988-1994

Each year the Kaiser/HRET Survey of Employer Health Benefits takes a snapshot of the state of employee benefits in the United States, based on interviews with public and private employers. Our findings for 2009 show that families continue to face higher premiums, up about 5 percent from last year, and that cost sharing in the form of deductibles and copayments for office visits is greater as well. Average annual premiums in 2009 were

Health Benefits In 2005: Premium Increases Slow Down, Coverage Continues To Erode

4,824 for single coverage and