The average annual premium for employer-sponsored health insurance in 2024 hit $8,951 for single coverage and $25,572 for family coverage, according to the KFF 2024 Employer Health Benefits Survey. This is the second year in a row that family premiums went up 7%, compared to a 4.5% year-over-year increase in workers’ wages and a 3.2% rise in inflation. Over the past 10 years, growth of the average premium for family coverage outpaced the rate of inflation (52% vs. 32%), while the average family premium and average wages grew at comparable rates (52% vs. 45%).

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While employers have seen their total premiums rise steadily, the amount that employees, on average, paid toward their annual premiums has changed little over the past five years. In 2024, employees contributed 16% of the premium for single coverage and 25% of the premium for family coverage, and both were lower than the average contribution levels last year. Employees with single coverage at small firms (under 200 workers) were more likely to enroll in plans with no premium contribution (37%), compared with only 5% of workers at large firms.

The average annual deductible for workers with single coverage was $1,787 in 2024, similar to last year’s $1,735. On average, workers at small firms faced much larger deductibles than workers at larger firms ($2,575 vs. $1,538).

“Employers are shelling out the equivalent of buying an economy car for every worker every year to pay for family coverage,” KFF President and CEO Drew Altman said in a press release. “In the tight labor market in recent years, they have not been able to continue offloading costs onto workers who are already struggling with health care bills.”

To assist their lower-wage employees, some firms offered programs to reduce cost sharing (6%) or to reduce premium contributions (14%) in 2024. Among firms with 200 or more workers, 14% offered a plan with reduced benefits and a low premium contribution to make it more affordable for lower-wage workers.

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The growing interest in weight-loss drugs, GLP-1 agonists, along with their hefty price tags, has posed a major challenge for employers. In 2024, only 18% of firms with 200 or more workers covered GLP-1s when used primarily for weight loss. And when they provided such coverage, over half of the polled firms required certain steps before the coverage was approved. Most commonly, the firms asked employees to meet with a professional, such as a dietitian, psychologist, case worker or therapist, before approving a GLP-1 drug prescription.

Among firms with 200 or more workers that did not cover GLP-1s primarily for weight loss, 62% said that they were “not likely” to begin covering these medications for weight loss within the next 12 months, and only 3% say that they were “very likely” to do so.

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This infographic was reprinted from AIS Health’s weekly publication Health Plan Weekly.