The Average Cost of Health Insurance for Small Business in 2017: Study - Capstone Brokerage

By: Caitlyn Bronson, Zane Benefits, February 2018

Small businesses continued to face cost increases for group health insurance in 2017, a report from the Kaiser Family Foundation reveals.

Kaiser’s “2017 Employer Health Benefits Survey” found that annual group health insurance premiums for businesses with fewer than 200 employees totaled $6,486 for single coverage and $17,615 for family coverage.
That’s a slight increase over the annual premiums of $6,429 for single coverage and $17,546 for family coverage in 2016. Overall, premiums for all group health insurance policies have increased 19 percent since 2012.

Perhaps as a result, the percentage of small businesses offering group health insurance fell to a historic low, according to a study from the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB). Just 29 percent of businesses with fewer than 50 employees offered group health benefits in 2016, the most recent year for which data is available.

In this post, we’ll review the most relevant findings from the study and explore how small businesses handle these cost increases—whether by dropping coverage or adopting personalized health benefits like the qualified small employer health reimbursement arrangement (QSEHRA).

Group health insurance premiums by plan type
Premiums varied according to the type of group health insurance policy. For businesses with fewer than 200 employees, high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) were the most affordable, while Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) plans were the most expensive.

The annual premium averages include: Continue to Zane Benefits