Insurance Premiums Up 9 Percent in 2011

Average annual insurance premiums for employer-sponsored family health coverage increased to $15,073 in 2011, up 9 percent from 2010, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation/Health Research & Educational Trust (HRET) 2011 Employer Health Benefits Survey. On average, workers paid $4,129 and employers paid $10,944 toward those annual premiums. The study also found 31 percent of covered workers were in high-deductible health plans, with deductibles for single coverage of at least $1,000, including 12 percent with deductibles of at least $2,000. Covered workers in smaller firms (three to 199 workers) were more likely to face such high deductibles, with half of workers in smaller firms with deductibles of at least $1,000, including 28 percent with deductibles of $2,000 or more.

The 13th annual Kaiser/HRET survey of small and large employers provides a detailed picture of trends in private health insurance costs and coverage. Last year’s survey also looked at employers’ experiences with several already implemented provisions of the 2010 health reform law affecting employer coverage. In particular, the survey estimated that employers added 2.3 million young adults to their parents’ family health insurance 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’ plan.