Companies spent $20K per family health premium in 2018, study finds

Though employers spent more on health insurance premiums in 2018, workers contributed less than they did in 2017. File Photo by agilemktg1/Flickr

By Danielle Haynes, UPI

The amount companies spent on their employees' family health plans rose to nearly $20,000 in 2018, up 5 percent from the year before, a data analysis released Wednesday indicates.

Kaiser Family Foundation Employer Health Benefits Survey found that the average employer spent $19,616 this year per employee for family health coverage. That's up from $18,764 (a 4.54 percent increase) in 2017 and $12,680 in 2008 (54.7 percent).

Employers spent $6,896 per year on single employee plans, up from $6,690 in 2017 (3.08 percent) and $4,704 in 2008 (46.6 percent).

Kaiser said the premium increases were on par with the rise in workers' wages in 2018, 2.6 percent, and inflation, 2.5 percent.

Meanwhile, workers' contributions for family health coverage decreased, from $5,714 in 2017 to $5,547 in 2018 -- a 2.92 percent drop. Workers' contributions to single plans also went down from $1,213 to $1,186 -- a 2.23 percent drop.

In 2008, the average worker contribution to family coverage was $3,354 (a 65.38 percent change) and to single coverage was $721 (64.49 percent).

"Over time, the increases continue to outpace wages and inflation," Kaiser said. "Since 2008, average family premiums have increased 55 percent, twice as fast as workers' earnings (26 percent) and three times as fast as inflation (17 percent)."

The Kaiser report comes one week after Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar announced that the cost of "benchmark" plans under the Affordable Care Act will fall 2 percent next year.

The Kaiser survey was conducted between January and July 2018 and included 4,070 randomly selected, non-federal public and private firms with three or more employees.