Your Health Premiums Are Probably Rising Next Year — Unless You Work Here

The original story by Maria Aspan for NPR.

After years of stubborn inflation, employer health coverage is about to get pricier again. The average family plan already topped $25,500 last year, according to KFF, with employers covering roughly $19,200 and workers chipping in about $6,300. That total is up more than 24% since 2019, and most benefits consultants expect another jump next year.

Why the squeeze? A profit-driven ecosystem — drugmakers, pharmacy benefit managers, hospitals, insurers — keeps ratcheting up prices. Post-pandemic demand has snapped back as people return to doctors’ offices. Blockbuster treatments, from GLP-1 weight-loss drugs to cutting-edge cancer meds, are effective but expensive. And years of consolidation have given remaining players more pricing power. Employers can’t do much about any of that. What they can control is how much of the bill they pass to workers.

A handful aren’t passing it along at all. Boston Consulting Group covers the full premium for its roughly 10,000 US employees and their families — about 20,000 people total — so nothing comes out of those paychecks for premiums. Chief people officer Alicia Pittman calls it a big investment that pays off in recruiting, retention and productivity. Smaller outfits are trying similar moves. Zocdoc offers a zero-premium plan option, pairing it with a higher deductible and company contributions to a health savings account. And Chicago startup Bartesian — famous for its countertop cocktail machine — covers medical, dental and vision premiums for its 30 employees and their families, plus kicks in $1,000 a year to flexible spending accounts. Founder Ryan Close, who moved from Canada, says the choice reflects company values and makes hiring easier, even if it means trading off other perks like a formal parental leave policy.

Zero-premium coverage is still rare. Mercer estimates only about one in eight large employers offers at least one plan with no upfront cost for individual workers, and just 2% extend that free coverage to dependents. And no plan is truly “free” once deductibles, copays and coinsurance enter the picture. But in a year when many workers will see paycheck deductions climb 6%–7% on average, a growing minority of employers are deciding to absorb more of the shock rather than pass it on.