Tip 132- Kaiser And UPS Make Headlines

This week, the Kaiser Family Foundation released their 2013 Employer Health Benefits Survey. A few highlights:

• deductibles for “small firms” (i.e., 3-199 employees) are on average $1,715; considerably higher than the average for all employers ($1,135).
• single coverage premiums for “small firms” are $5,711 (that’s $476/month) and employees pay 15% of that or $862 ($72/month)
• premiums for family coverage averaged $15,581 ($1,298/month) with the employee paying 34%, or $5,284 ($440/month).With family coverage so very expensive, should we be surprised that UPS announced this week they would not be offering coverage for spouses? But note, small group insurance regulations make that strategy a little trickier to duplicate.

  A terrific power point summary of the Kaiser survey can be found here.