Employer Premiums and Employee Contributions for Family Medical Benefits

Highlights

In 2014, the boilerplate public (State/local governments) sector premiums for single, employee-plus-one, and family coverage were all college than those for the individual sector, with wide variations across geographic areas.
Public sector employees in the New England division had the highest average health insurance premiums in 2014 for single coverage ($eight,036) and family coverage ($xx,563).
In 2014, East South Central division individual sector employees had the lowest boilerplate health insurance premiums for unmarried coverage ($five,530).
Boilerplate public sector employee contributions for family unit coverage were lower than those for the private sector in all demography divisions except the Due west South Central.

Introduction

Employer-sponsored health insurance for electric current workers is one of the master sources of health insurance coverage in the United states. According to information from the Insurance Component of the 2014 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS-IC), approximately 115.six million of the 135.2 meg civilian employees worked for an employer that offered health insurance. In this Brief, U.S. noncombatant employees are defined as those employed in the private sector and in the Country and local public sectors (federal employees are excluded). Of those noncombatant employees who worked for an employer that offered health insurance, approximately 35.1 1000000 were enrolled in single coverage, 12.five meg were enrolled in employee-plus-1 coverage, and 21.0 million were enrolled in family coverage (data non shown).

This Statistical Cursory presents estimates, using 2014 MEPS-IC data, of average premiums and employee contributions for single, employee-plus-ane, and family unit coverage. Notation that premiums for private and public sector enrollees may differ for a number of reasons, including differences in the demographic characteristics of enrollees and differences in the generosity of health plans. Estimates are for civilian employees who worked for entities that offered health insurance, and were enrolled in offered health insurance plans. Estimates by census geographic division within sector are also presented for boilerplate premiums and employee contributions for single and family coverage enrollees. Simply comparisons that had a statistically significant difference at the 0.05 percent significance level are noted in the text.

Findings

Premiums in 2014 (figure i)

Amidst the 135.two million civilian employees in the U.S. in 2014, 85.5 per centum worked for an employer that offered wellness insurance and 59.3 percent of these employees were enrolled in a plan (estimates not shown in figures). The boilerplate public sector premiums were $6,872 for single coverage, $12,701 for employee-plus-i coverage, and $17,971 for family unit coverage (Figure 1). For the private sector, these averages were $5,832, $11,503 and $16,655, respectively.

Figure i

Average premium per enrolled employee: Private versus public* sector, past type of coverage, 2014.

Employee contributions in 2014 (figure 2)

Public sector employees contributed an average of $737 for single coverage, $2,568 for employee-plus-one coverage, and $3,205 for family coverage to their health insurance premiums in 2014 (Figure 2). These averages were all lower than those for private sector employees ($1,234, $3,097 and $iv,518, respectively).

Figure 2

Boilerplate total employee contribution per enrolled employee: Private versus public* sector, by type of coverage, 2014.

Private and public health insurance coverage variations by census geographic division, 2014 (figures 3 - vii)

In 2014, average annual premiums and employee contributions varied essentially across both public and private sector employers and by geographic divisions every bit summarized below:

* Public sector premiums for single coverage were higher than private sector premiums in all demography divisions except for W South Central, where premiums did non differ between sectors (Figure three).Average annual health insurance premiums per enrolled civilian employee with unmarried coverage ranged from $5,530 for private sector employees in East South Key to $8,036 for public sector employees in New England.

Figure three

Average premium per enrolled employee for single coverage: Private and public* sectors, by census division, 2014.

* Public sector employee contributions toward single coverage were lower than private sector contributions in all census divisions except for New England, where employee contributions did not differ significantly between sectors (Figure iv). Average employee contributions per enrolled civilian employee with unmarried coverage ranged from $454 for public sector employees in W Northward Key to $1,459 for individual sector employees in New England.

Figure four

Average employee contribution per enrolled employee for single coverage: Individual and public* sectors, by census division, 2014.

* Public sector premiums for family coverage were higher than individual sector premiums in all demography divisions except for E South Key and West South Central (Figure v). Average almanac wellness insurance premiums per enrolled noncombatant employee with family coverage ranged from $15,222 for public sector employees in East Southward Central to $20,563 for public sector employees in New England.

Effigy 5

Average premium per enrolled employee for family coverage: Private and public* sectors, by census division, 2014.

* Public sector employee contributions toward family coverage were lower than private sector contributions in all census divisions except for Westward Southward Central, where employee contributions did not differ betwixt sectors (Figure vi). Average employee contributions per enrolled civilian employee with family coverage ranged from $2,159 for public sector employees in Heart Atlantic to $5,078 for private sector employees in W South Central.

Figure half dozen

Average employee contribution per enrolled employee for family coverage: Private and public* sectors, by census sectionalization, 2014.

* The percentage of premiums paid per enrolled employee for single coverage was lower in the public sector in all census divisions (Effigy 7). The average per centum of premiums paid past employees for unmarried coverage ranged from 6.7 percent for public sector employees in West Due north Central to 24.1 pct for private sector employees in Due east South Central.

Effigy 7

Percentage of premium paid per enrolled employee for unmarried coverage: Individual versus public* sector, past demography partitioning, 2014.

Information Source

This Statistical Cursory summarizes information from the 2014 MEPS-IC. The data are available on the MEPS Web site at http://world wide web.meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/survey_comp/Insurance.jspor have been produced using special ciphering runs of the confidential MEPS-IC data available at the U.S. Demography Agency.

Definitions

States were grouped into ix demography divisions equally follows:

* New England: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Isle, Vermont

* Middle Atlantic: New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania

* East North Cardinal: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin

* West North Central: Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Due north Dakota, South Dakota

* South Atlantic: Delaware, Commune of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia

* East South Fundamental: Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee

* West Due south Cardinal: Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas

* Mountain: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New United mexican states, Utah, Wyoming

* Pacific: Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington

Civilian

Civilian employees include those employed in the private sector and by State and local governments (referred to here as the public sector). Federal government employees, postal workers, military, and unincorporated self-employed individuals with no employees are not included.

Employee-plus-1 coverage

Wellness insurance that covers the employee and 1 other family member at a lower premium level than family coverage. For the MEPS-IC survey, if premiums are different for employee-plus-spouse and employee-plus-child coverage, the costs for employee-plus-child coverage are nerveless.

Family unit coverage

Wellness insurance that covers the employee and 1 or more members of his/her immediate family (spouse and/or children every bit defined past the plan). For the MEPS-IC survey, "family unit coverage" is any coverage other than unmarried and employee-plus-i. Some plans offer more i rate for family coverage, depending on family size and limerick. If more than one charge per unit is offered, survey respondents are asked to report costs for a family of four.

Premium

Agreed upon fees paid for coverage of medical benefits for a defined benefit flow. Premiums can be paid past employers, unions, employees, or split between the insured individual and the plan sponsor.

Unmarried coverage

Health insurance that covers the employee only. This is also known equally employee-only coverage.

About MEPS-IC

The MEPS-IC is a survey of business establishments and governments that collects information on employer-sponsored health insurance, such every bit whether insurance is offered, enrollments, types of plans, and premiums. The survey is conducted annually by the U.South. Census Bureau under the sponsorship of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). A total sample of approximately 42,000 private-sector establishments was selected for the 2014 survey; with 7.3 pct of the sample adamant to exist out-of-telescopic during the data collection procedure. The response rate for the private-sector was 69.8 percentage of the remaining in-scope sample units. For State and local governments, a sample of approximately iii,100 governmental units was selected with a response rate of 87.7 percent.

For more data on this survey, see MEPS Methodology Reports 6, 8, 10, 14, 17, 18, 27, 28 and xxx and the MEPS-IC Technical Notes and Survey Documentation, which are available on the MEPS Web site (http://www.meps.ahrq.gov)

Suggested Citation

Davis, K. Premiums and Employee Contributions for Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance: Private versus Public Sector, 2014. Statistical Brief #486. March 2016. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, Medico. http://www.meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/data_files/publications/st486/stat486.pdf

AHRQ welcomes questions and comments from readers of this publication who are interested in obtaining more information about access, cost, use, financing, and quality of wellness care in the United States. We also invite you to tell the states how you lot are using this Statistical Cursory and other MEPS information and tools and to share suggestions on how MEPS products might exist enhanced to farther meet your needs. Please email united states at MEPSProjectDirectors@ahrq.hhs.gov or send a alphabetic character to the address below:

Joel Due west. Cohen, PhD, Manager

Eye for Financing, Access, and Cost Trends

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

5600 Fishers Lane

Rockville, MD 20857

foleythearment.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK447178/