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September 11, 2012 at 09:28 AM
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA) seems to be having a growing effect on group health coverage, researchers say.
The researchers, at the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, Menlo Park, Calif., and the Health Research & Educational Trust, Washington, have reported that finding in a report based on a survey of 2,121 U.S. employers.
The researchers found that the overall percentage of participating employers offering health benefits increased slightly, to 61%, from 60% in 2011, but is still down sharply from 69% in 2010.
The offered rate dropped to 98%, from 99%, for firms with 200 or more workers, but it increased to 61%, from 59%, for firms with 3 to 199 workers, and it increased by 2 percentage points for firms with 3 to 50 workers.
The average annual single premium increased 3% to $5,615, and the average annual family premium increased 4%, to $15,745.
But the rate of increase for individual coverage was down from 8%, and the rate of increase for family coverage was down from 9%.
The researchers also found that plans are much less likely to be grandfathered.
