Average Cost Of Large Group Health Insurance

Large group health insurance is the typical insurance coverage used by big companies. Even companies that have more than fifty employees may need to look at extensive group health insurance coverage. Employer-sponsored health insurance remains one of the most sought-after benefits for workers across the board. This high demand for coverage incentivizes companies to look at health insurance policies that balance affordability with benefits. As it stands, most employers are likely to be shouldering most of the costs for health insurance.

Because of how necessary health insurance has become in the modern world, employers realize that to keep their employees healthy, they will need high-quality health insurance policies. Throughout 2019, the costs of health insurance soared to new heights. The Kaiser Family Foundation estimated that the average expense to an employer for covering a single person on their group plan was $7,188 per year. Family coverage was as much as $20,576 on average. Over time the cost of large group health insurance has slowly grown until it got to the point where it sits today.

The Increase of Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance

Over the last few years, employer-sponsored insurance has increased by 4% for individual plans and 5% for family plans. However, while the year-to-year increase is negligible, the longer-term view of the data suggests that health insurance for large groups has grown significantly. An investigation of the past five years has shown an increase in the cost of premiums by 22%. If we extend the data back to a decade, the rise works out to a whopping 54% from ten years ago. Even though these plans’ costs have increased dramatically over this period, employer-sponsored insurance remains among the most affordable insurance premiums for individuals available.

How Costs are Distributed

Large group health insurance plans focus on collecting monthly premiums and also have service payments that are an added cost. Businesses tend to divide the plan’s expenses over different percentages, depending on the type of insurance coverage the employee decided to take. The categories for distribution are:

• Premiums: Each month, the employer and employee come together to pay part of the premium. The business tends to pay the lion’s share of the premium, and the remainder is deducted from the employee’s paycheck before he or she receives it. Premiums are a standard method of paying for insurance, and they’re also a facet of individual insurance plans.
• Deductibles: When an employee goes to a health facility, they are required to cover a certain amount of costs related to the service. This cost is called the deductible and counts as part of the service payment that the covered individual needs to meet as part of the plan’s agreement. Employers usually shoulder a significant amount of the deductible as well.
• Copays: When you visit a network doctor, you may be required to pay a non-refundable fee for service. This cost is referred to as the copay and is usually negotiated with service providers due to the insurance company’s coverage. Copays are another service payment that the employer contributes to paying, although some arrangements require the employee to cover copay costs.
• Coinsurance: After the covered individual has hit the deductible ceiling, the insurance takes over. However, insurance only covers a percentage of the costs of the employee’s healthcare. The rest is left to the employee and the employer to figure out. Typically, in these cases, the employer shoulders most of the cost. Occasionally, the employer may opt to pay the total expenses and then be reimbursed by the worker afterward.

Large group plans, just like small group plans, have a yearly limit for maximum out-of-pocket costs. All service payments (the deductible, copays, and coinsurance) count towards this maximum limit, but premiums do now. As an employer, if you’re looking for a plan that manages to offer adequate coverage for a reasonable cost, you should keep an eye on the maximum out-of-pocket expenses. If your employee surpasses this maximum, then the insurance company will cover all costs for the rest of the year.

Health Plans Are a Necessity

In 2010, the Obama administration signed into law the Affordable Care Act. As part of the act’s dedication to ensuring workers could pay their healthcare bills, it mandated employers that had more than fifty (50) employees to offer full health coverage to at least 95% of them. Failure to do so would result in a fine, requiring the business to pay the IRS $3,860 per employee, per year. As an additional caveat, if an employer provides health insurance to a particular class of employees, the company must cover all similarly situated employees in the same way. Employer health insurance isn’t just for the employee, however. The health plan that covers any employee should also be available to that employee’s dependents.

Opting Out of Employer Health Insurance

In most cases, an employee can decide that they would like to cover their own health insurance costs. This decision to opt for individual coverage might be because they’re unsatisfied with the employer’s insurance or because they think they’d be better off with their own plans. However, if employers cover the full amount of the employee’s premium or the worker is part of a union requiring them to have health insurance, they don’t have the option to opt-out of the employer’s plan.

For employers, there are ways to mitigate the costs that health insurance incurs on the business. One of the more strategic methods of doing so is to offer a reimbursement plan for individual insurance plans. Workers can pay their own health insurance, and then submit the payment information to get a refund on their paycheck. Large group health plans remain the most reliable way to protect workers within a single company.

Suppose you’re looking at the options for large group health insurance, or are covered by your company and want to know what options you have available. In that case, My Private Health Insurance has a useful utility that will allow you to compare plans and see what each offers directly. It ranges across all providers, and you can filter results as you see fit. If you’re on the hunt for insurance, this tool can save you untold hours. Check us out today to find out more!