Dive Brief:
- A new analysis from Aon Hewitt finds due to the trend toward shifting healthcare costs onto employees, workers will face a combination of premium and out-of-pocket costs that surpasses $5,000 for the first time in 2016.
- The amount workers contribute has steadily risen more than 134% from 2005 to 2015, the report finds.
- In dollars, total employee healthcare costs went from $2,001 in 2005 to $4,698 in 2015, and they are projected to reach $5,068 next year.
Dive Insight:
Increasing healthcare costs and increasing employee cost burdens mean health coverage is not the financial protection it used to be, and enrollees are taking notice.
Employees undergoing corporate open enrollment periods are seeing the impact of the trend for next year, with the average total cost of an employee premium up 4.1%. Workers are facing a share of $2,635 with projected out-of-pocket costs of $2,433 which brings the total above $5,000.
"The strategy of shifting costs onto workers has escalated as companies raise co-payments, deductibles and emphasize so-called 'consumer-directed health plans' that generally come with higher cost sharing," Forbes reports, noting the increased healthcare burden is eating up the benefit of employee raises.