The good news for consumers is that the cost of premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance rose only modestly in 2016, in keeping with recent trends, a new health care economic study shows.
But the bad news is that the low price is often now being offset by rapidly rising out-of-pocket costs as more and more workers are steered into high-deductible plans that force them to pay thousands of dollars upfront before their coverage kicks in, according to findings in the Kaiser Family Foundation 2016 Employer Health Benefit Survey, released Wednesday.
“We’re seeing premiums rising at historically slow rates, which helps workers and employers alike, but it’s made possible in part by the more rapid rise in the deductibles workers must pay,” said Drew Altman, president and CEO of the foundation, which has released an annual snapshot since 1999.
The average overall price of family premiums rose 3 percent in 2016 to $18,142 per year. On average workers contributed $5,277 to ward that premium, typically through payroll deduction. Last year, the cost of comparable premiums increased 4 percent, reflecting a general flattening from past years when the costs were spiraling upward quickly. The study showed, for instance, that premiums shot up 63 percent between 2001 and 2006.
Yet during those years a new insurance product shifting more health care costs onto workers was becoming popular.
In 2016, 29 percent of the nation’s workers were in high-deductible plans, often connected to health savings accounts. In 2006, only 4 percent were in such plans.
High-deductible plans keep premiums lower, but they also are designed to force employees to have “more skin in the game,” making them more cost-conscious as they seek medical care, Altman said Wednesday.
This year, 83 percent of workers have some kind of deductible as part of their employer-sponsored health plan.
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