9% of Employers Still Paying 100% of Employee Health Insurance

Brian Anderson

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A Fortune article about employer-paid health insurance fading away points out that only 9% of employers are still paying 100% of employee health insurance costs, down from a peak of 34% in 2001.

From the article:

The share of Fortune’s best companies that still pay for 100% of employee’s healthcare has dropped to 9% this year from a peak of 34% in 2001. That big drop represents a broader workplace trend — employees are covering more of their health insurance premiums than in previous years. Workers with employer-sponsored health plans now contribute an average of 18% of the premium for single coverage and 29% of the premium for family coverage, according to a study by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation…

The article goes on to say that ditching fully paid health insurance also allows employers to tailor overall benefits to each employee better. Companies are trying to individualize their benefits -instead of giving a benefit that’s really valuable to one person but not another, they’re really trying to “narrow it in.”

…Individualizing a worker’s pay package, including benefits, allows companies to link renumeration more closely to employee productivity, the article says.

The Number of Employers Offering Fully-Paid Health Care Is Plummeting - Fortune
 
A Fortune article about employer-paid health insurance fading away points out that only 9% of employers are still paying 100% of employee health insurance costs, down from a peak of 34% in 2001.

From the article:

The share of Fortune’s best companies that still pay for 100% of employee’s healthcare has dropped to 9% this year from a peak of 34% in 2001. That big drop represents a broader workplace trend — employees are covering more of their health insurance premiums than in previous years. Workers with employer-sponsored health plans now contribute an average of 18% of the premium for single coverage and 29% of the premium for family coverage, according to a study by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation…

The article goes on to say that ditching fully paid health insurance also allows employers to tailor overall benefits to each employee better. Companies are trying to individualize their benefits -instead of giving a benefit that’s really valuable to one person but not another, they’re really trying to “narrow it in.”

…Individualizing a worker’s pay package, including benefits, allows companies to link renumeration more closely to employee productivity, the article says.

The Number of Employers Offering Fully-Paid Health Care Is Plummeting - Fortune

Thats a nice spin... but the cold hard truth is that group health premiums are around double what they were back in 2001. That is why most businesses pay less, because most businesses are small businesses and they cant afford to keep up with the rising premiums.

I would like to see group health done away with all together. But to spin it as some type of benefit is just dumb. The employer is spending more on a dollar amount, even though they are spending less on a % basis of premiums. It costs them more and that is not a benefit to employees.

Leave it to Forbes to put a happy face on a negative. Its like they have literally no financial experience at all over there.
 
It would be more interesting if they broke down the % of employer contribution by employer size.

I rarely encounter small businesses paying that much of a % for employees.
 
It would be more interesting if they broke down the % of employer contribution by employer size.

I rarely encounter small businesses paying that much of a % for employees.

Check out Kaiser family, dol bureau of labor stats, and agency for healthcare research and quality. I find them to be very helpful.
 
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