Average family premiums exceed $22,000

The Kaiser Family Foundation has found that annual family rates for employer-sponsored health insurance grew 4% to $22,221 in 2021. Employees contributed $5,969 on average to family coverage, according to the KFF Employer Health Benefits Survey of 2021. Since 2011, average family premiums have risen 47%, faster than earnings (31%). (19 percent).

60% of firms supplied health benefits. KFF found that larger companies are more likely to offer health insurance to at least some employees, with almost all (99%) giving coverage to employees over 200 and nearly half (56%) offering coverage to employees under 50. Cost (30%), size (25%), and workers having alternative coverage (21%) are the main reasons given by small businesses not offering coverage.

The average single deductible was $1,669, which is similar to the prior two years ($1,644 in 2020; $1,655 in 2019), but up substantially from 2011 ($991). Compared to a decade ago, 85% of insured workers had a deductible this year. The poll also revealed that deductibles for small businesses under 200 employees were 70% more than for large businesses over 200 employees ($2,379 vs. $1,397). Over the last decade, the rising percentage of workers with deductibles and rising average deductibles have raised the expense of deductibles by 92 percent.

COVID-19. The survey looked at how the epidemic influenced telemedicine and mental health services. KFF discovered that among companies with at least 50 employees, 39% had changed their mental health and drug addiction coverage since the epidemic began. This includes 31% expanding access to mental-health treatments, such as telemedicine, and 16% adding new mental-health resources, such as an employee help program.

Also, owing to the epidemic, 66% of companies with at least 50 employees changed their telemedicine policies. Half (51%) increased employee awareness of telemedicine advantages, while 31% added new telemedicine services. Also, nearly a quarter increased the number or types of telemedicine providers (23%) and covered telemedicine services (24%).

Due to the pandemic, more than half (55%) of companies with 50 or more employees changed their health programs. Expanding or altering current programs to better suit the requirements of those working from home (22%) and establishing a new digital program such as an app (43%). (17 percent).

“The growth of telemedicine and mental health coverage was vital in fulfilling the needs of employees and their families in tough times,” stated Gary Claxton, KFF senior vice president, and Matthew Rae, assistant director of KFF’s Health Care Marketplace Program. “These adjustments made sense not because businesses wanted to spend more, but because they wanted their employees to appreciate their health benefits as such.”