Dive Brief:
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It costs employers on average cost 7.6% of the annual operating budget for healthcare, which translates into an average of $8,669 per covered employee, according to new Health Care Benchmarking Report from the Society for Human Resource Management.
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In just one year, that also means the average cost per covered employee has increased by nearly $500.
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SHRM's survey also found that 52% of organizations now offer Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and 77% offer Health Reimbursement Accounts (HRA) – a serious leap from the previous fiscal year, where 49% reported offering an HSA and 23% offered an HRA.
Dive Insight:
Among other findings, SHRM's survey revealed that 98% percent of employers offer health care coverage for full-time employees, and 92% offer coverage for the spouse of employees, which is down from 96% in 2011. When it comes to prescription plans, 92% of employers offer generic prescriptions, and 95% offer a 90-day mail-order prescription service.
"More and more, employers are having to push the increasing cost of health care onto employees," said Evren Esen, SHRM's director of workforce analytics. "High-deductible health plans such as HSAs and HRAs are one way that employers are attempting to counter the high costs."