7 trends in employer-sponsored health plans — Premiums up 203% in 15 years

Laura Dyrda -

Here are seven key trends in employer-sponsored health plans, based on an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

1. Over the past 15 years, from 1999 to 2015, premiums for employer-sponsored health plans increased 203 percent. The premium increase outpaces inflation and workers' earnings.

2. Family coverage premiums slowed in recent years, from an average 11 percent growth from 1999 to 2005 to a 5 percent annual growth over the past decade.

3. Over the past year, from 2014 to 2015, the average premium for single and family coverage jumped 4 percent.

4. Deductibles increased faster over the past five years than both premiums and wages.

5. Around 8 percent of covered workers are enrolled in a family plan worth more than $24,000; 4 percent are in plans worth less than $10,000 annually.

6. More than half of the large employers — more than 200 workers — and 17 percent of smaller workers examined whether their plans would be subject to the excise tax on high-cost employer-sponsored health coverage slated for 2018.

7. Thirteen percent of large employers and 7 percent of small employers changed plan coverage or cost sharing to avoid the tax; only 8 percent of each switched to lower-cost plans exempt from the tax.

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