After several years of relatively modest increases, annual premiums for employer-sponsored family health coverage rose to nearly $15,100 this year, up 9 percent according to a new study.
The Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research & Educational Trust found that 31 percent of covered workers are in high-deductible health plans, facing deductibles for single coverage of at least $1,000.
Kaiser also estimated that employers added 2.3 million young adults to policies as a result of the health reform provision that allows young adults up to age 26 without employer coverage on their own to be covered as dependents on their parents”™ plans. New York and Connecticut had similar laws already on the books for carriers selling insurance within their borders.
The survey also suggested that more than half of covered workers are in grandfathered plans that under federal health reform are exempt from some requirements, including covering preventive benefits with no cost sharing and having an external appeals process. To obtain this status, employers cannot make significant changes to their plans that reduce benefits or increase employee cost.
