Employee benefit coinsurance: Latest benchmarks
May 28, 2009 by Bill MeltzerPosted in: Healthcare costs, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views
How much is too much to ask employees to contribute toward their own coverage?
These benchmarks from the Milliman index and EBRI can shed light on where your firm’s cost-sharing arrangement stands against the national averages:
- The average yearly total medical cost for a married employee with two dependent children has climbed to all-time high of $14,400
- Among firms with traditional coverage (PPO, HMO, etc.), employees’ shares of the cost have increased an average 11.4% over the last three plan years
- Between salary contributions toward premiums, copays and deductibles, employees now pay an average 38% of the total medical cost, and
- Employers fork out $8,909 (62%) toward the total yearly cost of family coverage.
January 15th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
I work for an employer that pays 100% of health, dental, life, STD/LTD insurance, and the employees still complain about their out of pocket expenses. Health insurance is a racket that is killing the consumer. The employer thinks they are doing a great service to the employee, and the insuranc still doesn’t cover what we need.
June 4th, 2009 at 11:01 am
I, too, work for an employer that pays 100% of health, life, and LDT insurance. The employer IS doing a great service to the employees. I am the one who pays the monthly insurance premiums for the company, so I know how much they are spending. Everyone is technically receiving between $3200 and $9600 tax free income per year that they are pretty much unaware of. I have not heard one of our employees complain about our coverage, but if they did, I would encourage them to take a look at outside insurance carriers.
June 4th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
I think that the inequity of insurance costs would be decreased if employers and insurance companies offered, as a regular item, employe plus 1 (I.E. spouse, child). I don’t think I should have to pay the same premium for my husband & me as the couple who has 12 children on their policy. Also, the increases should be more evenly distributed because, as of the most recent increase, family coverage went up 24% but individual coverage went up 15%. I don’t know what the answer is but there has to be a solution somewhere.
June 4th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
The problem isn’t with the insurance in most cases… it is with the expectations of the consumers. We have moved away from “health insurance” to pre-paid healthcare. Everyone says they want affordable healthcare, but if they want (not “need”, “want”) a service they don’t want to pay for it. But it is expensive to care for our bodies, particularly when we don’t care for them ourselves. We can’t afford to have the consumer not paying for part of their care, and separating the consumer from the price has led to a huge escalation of services that is killing the system. Sorry, but healthcare is not a “right”, any more than housing or food.
June 4th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
Kate,
I am in the same boat as you are. If the employees could see the astronomical costs that the employer pays at 100%, they would be glad to pay whatever isn’t covered.
June 5th, 2009 at 8:21 am
From my experience (20 years thus far) the employers I have worked for uses a formula. They either paid full coverage for single , then a percentage increment for other tiers or they paid a percentage of single coverage across the board. In these economic times, I’m surprised that employers can afford to be so generous. I think we should all be thankful for what we get. You should have to pay something for the benefits you receive, even if you think you deserve a free ride. I agree with Kate, look outside first, then see how much room you have to complain.
June 5th, 2009 at 4:09 pm
I agree with Darin & Teresa. We all got spoiled with our health insurance copays. We’ve grown to take it for granted. Everyone expects someone else to pay for their own well being. And so many of us don’t take care of ourselves. Nobody apreciates what they get for free.
June 16th, 2009 at 11:09 am
Our employees are very aware of what health and dental insurance costs. Employees pay 20% of premium. We have gone to a high deductible plan with an company paid Health Reimbursement Account. Employees now have to submit claims to the HRA administrator. This has opened their eyes to what the company has to shell out to make their plan a $500 deductible, 80/20 plan. If you employees don’t know what the company is spending, it is your fault, not theirs. You need to share this information with them along with benchmarks so they know where they stand.
I had an interesting conversation yesterday with an Administrator at the local school district. Non-union staff are willing going with new healthcare programs to get relief but the teachers will not hear of it. Under the teacher’s plan, family coverage is costing the district $22,000 per year. This is rediculous. We have very good coverage at $14,000 per year for family. As a taxpayer, I find this unacceptable. Our professional employees don’t make any more than teachers and yet we are to believe that they get these great benefits because of the low pay. This just isn’t true anymore.
As for the two-tier system, I introduced a four-tier benefit plan. We have single, employee plus spouse, employee plus children and family. This significantly reduces costs to two person families and puts the higher cost of family coverage where it belongs. We have lots of employee with spouse couples and it is a great addition.