Les Masterson is a deputy editor and insurance analyst at Forbes Advisor. He has been a journalist, reporter, editor and content creator for more than 25 years. He has covered insurance for a decade, including auto, home, life and health. Before cove.
Les Masterson Deputy Editor, InsuranceLes Masterson is a deputy editor and insurance analyst at Forbes Advisor. He has been a journalist, reporter, editor and content creator for more than 25 years. He has covered insurance for a decade, including auto, home, life and health. Before cove.
Written By Les Masterson Deputy Editor, InsuranceLes Masterson is a deputy editor and insurance analyst at Forbes Advisor. He has been a journalist, reporter, editor and content creator for more than 25 years. He has covered insurance for a decade, including auto, home, life and health. Before cove.
Les Masterson Deputy Editor, InsuranceLes Masterson is a deputy editor and insurance analyst at Forbes Advisor. He has been a journalist, reporter, editor and content creator for more than 25 years. He has covered insurance for a decade, including auto, home, life and health. Before cove.
Deputy Editor, Insurance Michelle Megna Lead Editor, InsuranceMichelle is a lead editor at Forbes Advisor. She has been a journalist for over 35 years, writing about insurance for consumers for the last decade. Prior to covering insurance, Michelle was a lifestyle reporter at the New York Daily News, a magazine.
Michelle Megna Lead Editor, InsuranceMichelle is a lead editor at Forbes Advisor. She has been a journalist for over 35 years, writing about insurance for consumers for the last decade. Prior to covering insurance, Michelle was a lifestyle reporter at the New York Daily News, a magazine.
Michelle Megna Lead Editor, InsuranceMichelle is a lead editor at Forbes Advisor. She has been a journalist for over 35 years, writing about insurance for consumers for the last decade. Prior to covering insurance, Michelle was a lifestyle reporter at the New York Daily News, a magazine.
Michelle Megna Lead Editor, InsuranceMichelle is a lead editor at Forbes Advisor. She has been a journalist for over 35 years, writing about insurance for consumers for the last decade. Prior to covering insurance, Michelle was a lifestyle reporter at the New York Daily News, a magazine.
| Lead Editor, Insurance
Updated: Jul 17, 2024, 3:55pm
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More than 54% of Americans with health insurance have employer-sponsored coverage through group health insurance, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Employers often offer health insurance as part of their benefits package. It’s also an avenue to cheaper coverage for employees since companies pay over half of health insurance premiums.
Key Takeaways
Group health insurance is a type of health insurance that employers offer their workers as a benefit. It provides coverage to a group of people or members of an organization. Group health insurance is generally a more affordable option than buying individual coverage directly from the insurer or in the Affordable Care Act health insurance marketplace, sometimes called Obamacare.
Employers pay over half of employee health insurance premiums and may fund health savings accounts (HSAs) for the employees to use on their healthcare costs.
The Affordable Care Act requires that businesses with 50 or more full-time employees must provide health insurance to full-time employees and dependents under the age of 26 or pay a fee. Insurers are also required to provide group coverage to organizations with as few as two employees. Smaller businesses aren’t required to have health insurance but may qualify for tax credits by offering that coverage.
Employers contract with health insurance companies to offer health plans. An employer may offer multiple options and contract with more than one insurer or an employee may wind up only having one option.
Employees choose their plan during open enrollment, when they first become eligible or during a special enrollment period, if they qualify.
You pay a health insurance premium to the health insurance company to have coverage and your employer pays its share of the premium. These plans typically have provider networks. Staying within the provider network saves you money.
Group plans usually have health insurance deductibles and coinsurance. You have to pay the annual deductible before the health plan begins paying for healthcare services. After reaching the deductible, you pay coinsurance, which is a percentage of healthcare bills.
Employer-sponsored health insurance costs an average of $8,435 annually for single coverage and $23,968 for family coverage, according to Kaiser Family Foundation. Employers pick up well over 50% of those costs.
The main financial benefit of group health insurance for employees is that businesses generally pay most of the health insurance premiums. But there are other positives for both employees and employers.
Employer-sponsored health insurance has cheaper premiums than unsubsidized ACA plans.
Group health insurance plans offer numerous tax benefits to both employers and employees. The money employers pay toward monthly premiums is tax-deductible, and employees’ premium payments can be made pre-tax, which may reduce their total taxable income.
The small business healthcare tax credit benefits an employer with fewer than 25 full-time employees. To qualify, the small employer must pay average wages of less than $56,000 a year. They must also offer a qualified health plan through the Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) Marketplace and pay at least 50% of the cost of healthcare coverage for each employee (but not for family or dependents).
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Deputy Editor, InsuranceLes Masterson is a deputy editor and insurance analyst at Forbes Advisor. He has been a journalist, reporter, editor and content creator for more than 25 years. He has covered insurance for a decade, including auto, home, life and health. Before covering insurance, Les was a news editor and reporter for Patch and Community Newspaper Company and also covered health care, mortgages, credit cards and personal loans for multiple websites.
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