A newly-released survey found that annual premiums for employer-provided family healthcare plans have risen once again. Annual premiums for these types of plans rose 5% in 2019, bringing the cost up to $20,576, according to the yearly poll done by the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation. Of that total cost, employees are responsible for approximately $6,015, which is an 8% increase over the previous year, leaving employers paying over $14,500 in health care premiums over the course of the year for each individual employee’s family health plan. For an individual employer plan, which many employers cover in full, the average total premium cost was $7,188 in the 2019 survey.
While employers cover the majority of premium costs for their employees, that doesn’t include additional employee costs like co-payments, deductibles, prescriptions and other out-of-pocket medical expenses. Many of these expenses have increased much more rapidly than wages, leaving employees extremely frustrated with their employer-sponsored health coverage options despite employers’ attempts to keep costs low.
The survey also noted that organizations with a large amount of lower-wage workers passed more of the premium costs onto the employees themselves, leaving many of their employees with no other choice than to go without healthcare entirely. Health care affordability is on the mind of California legislators, as they move towards their proposed statewide individual mandate, which aims to ensure all California residents maintain health coverage for themselves, their spouses and dependents.
California employers who are looking to keep healthcare costs low for themselves and their employers may want to consider partnering with a Professional Employer Organization (PEO). A PEO package like Emplicity’s PrimeHR™, allows even small businesses to benefit from the lower costs of large-group platforms and relieves employers of confusing administration tasks, allowing them the peace of mind to focus on growing their business.