Health insurance premiums are going up next year — unless you work at these companies

As wellness security prices are surging, immoderate companies are covering their employees' aesculapian plans. Getty Images/Emily Bogle/NPR hide caption

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Getty Images/Emily Bogle/NPR

NPR's bid Cost of Living: The Price We Pay is examining what's driving value increases and really group are coping aft years of stubborn inflation. How are higher prices changing nan measurement you live? Fill retired this form to stock your communicative pinch NPR.

What's nan item?

Health care

How has nan value changed since earlier nan pandemic?

U.S. wellness attraction is nan astir costly successful nan developed world, and it's getting worse. The mean yearly premium for an employer-based wellness security scheme for a family of 4 was much than $25,500 past year, according to nan wellness argumentation nonprofit KFF. Of that mean total, employers contributed astir $19,200 and workers contributed astir $6,300.

Total premiums person risen much than 24% since 2019 and are wide expected to surge adjacent year.

Why has nan value gone up?

For-profit companies — including drugmakers, drugstore use managers, hospitals and security companies — person collectively driven up nan costs of accessing aesculapian attraction successful nan United States.

Drugmakers are processing much effective medications, including GLP-1 weight nonaccomplishment narcotics and crab treatments — but they're besides charging a batch for them. More group are going backmost to nan expert aft nan pandemic kept them away, driving up request — and prices. And many security companies and different for-profit businesses wrong nan wellness attraction strategy person merged aliases consolidated, often allowing nan remaining businesses to raise prices for their services.

But here's an improbable solution for immoderate U.S. workers

Some 154 cardinal people successful nan United States get wellness security done their employer — and galore could spot their paycheck deductions surge adjacent year, by 6% to 7% connected average.

Employers don't person a batch of power complete these costs. But they do power really overmuch they walk connected to their workers — and crossed nan country, immoderate employers large and mini person decided not to make their workers salary thing upfront.

Boston Consulting Group, for example, covers each security premiums for its astir 10,000 U.S. labor and their families — meaning that those workers don't person immoderate money deducted from their paychecks toward premiums.

"Healthy labor make for a productive workforce — and besides a spot wherever our teams want to travel to activity each day," says Alicia Pittman, main group serviceman for BCG.

Between labor and their family members, BCG is paying nan afloat premiums to screen astir 20,000 people. That useful retired to a "big investment," Pittman says, declining to specify really much.

But that benignant of finance tin person a large payoff for nan employer, she and different executives show NPR. Offering zero-premium wellness security helps to enlistee caller labor and support turnover low.

It besides helps workers enactment focused connected their jobs, alternatively of getting distracted by nan expenses and frustrations of navigating nan U.S. wellness attraction system.

Some smaller employers and nonprofits besides supply zero-premium wellness care

It's uncommon but not unheard of for companies to supply zero-premium wellness security to employees. According to nan benefits advisor Mercer, astir 12% of ample employers connection astatine slightest 1 aesculapian scheme pinch free upfront sum for an individual worker. (Only 2% screen employees' dependents for free, however.)

But it's not conscionable large for-profit companies that connection immoderate shape of zero-premium wellness insurance. So do immoderate nonprofits, mini businesses and startups, according to interviews NPR has conducted pinch executives and labor astatine respective employers complete nan past fewer weeks.

"Health attraction is 1 of these nonnegotiables," says Oliver Kharraz, nan CEO of Zocdoc, which makes scheduling package that group tin usage to book doctor's appointments online.

Getting wellness attraction successful nan United States involves galore costs beyond conscionable premiums, of course: Many low-premium plans tin person precocious deductibles, copays aliases different forms of "cost sharing."

And Zocdoc doesn't screen each nan costs of nan wellness security it provides to employees. It offers aggregate plans, and group who prime nan zero-premium 1 person to salary a higher deductible, though nan institution does spot successful to a wellness savings relationship to screen immoderate of it.

"It is simply a increasing expense, nary doubt," Kharraz says. "But we deliberation that it's our occupation to make judge that nan institution is patient capable that we tin spend to carnivore it."

It's thing that startup laminitis Ryan Close was wished to supply to labor from nan beginning. In 2019, he and his family moved to Chicago from Canada — and nan first clip 1 of them sewage sick and Close needed to prime up a prescription, he had a rude awakening.

"It was for illustration 'Whoa … this is simply a wake-up call. And this isn't cheap,'" he says.

Close is nan laminitis and CEO of Chicago-based startup Bartesian. The institution sells an at-home cocktail instrumentality and nan pods to spell successful it — akin to a Keurig aliases a Nespresso, for boozy drinks. It has had a blockbuster fewer years since nan pandemic, and it has raised $40 cardinal from investors (including Chicago Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts and nan Suntory liquor conglomerate that owns Jim Beam).

Now Close is spending immoderate of that money connected his 30 employees. Bartesian covers each medical, dental and imagination premiums for its labor and their families. It besides contributes $1,000 annually toward their elastic spending accounts.

There are decidedly trade-offs for doing so, including seeing costs emergence arsenic Bartesian grows and wellness attraction prices surge. Meanwhile, location are besides trade-offs for employees: The institution doesn't connection immoderate different mainstream worker benefits, including a general parental time off policy.

But Close believes his startup's zero-premium wellness attraction has made it easier and cheaper to prosecute talented group and proceed growing.

"We're saying thing astir really we are arsenic a company, wherever we worth our squad members," he says.

"We deliberation that them being capable to return attraction of their children and their wives and their husbands is simply a priority," he adds.

And Close has a very elemental rationale for why he's consenting to proceed paying much for his employees' wellness care.

"It really stemmed apt from being Canadian," he says. "I conscionable astir apt took for granted, 'Oh, of people I don't salary for wellness care.'"