The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) just released new data on insurance premiums for the year 2008. The data showed that the cost of insuring a family of four with an employer-sponsored health plan in the United States averaged $12,298. The Agency’s new data for private industry further showed that the annual premium for covering an employee and one family member, known as an “employee-plus-one” plan, averaged $8,535, while it cost $4,386 for the employee only.
Almost 20 million of the 62.5 million workers enrolled in employer-based insurance in 2008 had family plans, while about 11 million had employee-plus-one plans. The 31.5 million remaining workers had single-coverage plans.
AHRQ’s 2008 private-industry data also showed that:
* Nationally, workers enrolled in family plans last year contributed an average of $3,394 toward the cost of their premiums, compared with $2,303 for an employee-plus-one policy, and $882 for a single-coverage plan.
* Across all States, workers in Florida contributed the most for a family plan ($4,412) while Indiana workers contributed the least ($2,472); for employee-plus-one plans, New Hampshire workers contributed the most and Idaho workers the least ($3,005 and $1,736, respectively); and for single coverage, New Hampshire workers again contributed the most ($1,264) and workers in Hawaii the least ($451).
* Employers paid the entire premiums for about 22 percent of workers with single-coverage plans, just 11 percent for workers with family plans, and 9 percent for those with employee-plus-one plans.
These data are taken from the Insurance Component of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), a source of detailed information on employer-sponsored health insurance coverage and costs at the National, State, and metropolitan area levels.
For more information on the MEPS Statistical Brief #251, Employer-Sponsored Single, Employee-Plus-One, and Family Health Insurance: Selection and Cost, 2008, go to http://www.meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/data_stats/Pub_ProdResults_Details.jsp?pt=Statistical%20Brief&opt=2&id=912. For MEPS summary data on employer-based health insurance, go to http://www.meps.ahrq.gov/mepsweb/data_stats/quick_tables.jsp.
Source: www.ahrq.gov
