Connecticut employers are paying over $12,000 per employee per year for health insurance, and saw their costs increase about 9.3 percent in 2013, according to a recent survey published by benefit consultant USI Insurance Services.
USI’s first annual New England Employer-Sponsored Health & Welfare Benefits Survey also found that Connecticut employers are continuing to shift costs to employees through plan design modifications and by increasing employee contributions toward the cost of health coverage, two trends that have become common in recent years.
Connecticut’s average healthcare costs per employee were slightly lower than what Rhode Island employers pay ($13,000) and higher than what Massachusetts’s companies pay (over $10,000).
The survey also found that large employers in Connecticut tend to have lower costs than small firms. Thomas Willsey, employee benefits president and practice leader for USI’s Connecticut operation, said New England healthcare cost increases have stabilized in recent years, but 2014 could see a larger spike in costs as a result of new or increased taxes that go into effect as a result of the Affordable Care Act.
— Greg Bordonaro
