Changes in Premiums for Civilian Employees: Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance, by Census Division, 2008 and 2011

Employer-sponsored health insurance for current workers is one of the primary sources of health insurance coverage in the United States. According to data from the Insurance Component of the 2011 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS-IC), approximately 111.6 million of the 127.7 million civilian employees (including private and State and local, but not federal employees) worked where the employer offered health insurance. Of those employees who worked where health insurance was offered, approximately 67.6 million were enrolled (data not shown). The MEPS-IC provides data to analyze changes over time in premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance coverage. Beginning in September 2011, the Rate Review program established under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act requires health insurers to justify premium rate increases of 10 percent or more before the increase can take effect. This Statistical Brief presents MEPS-IC estimates by type of coverage (single, employee-plus-one, and family) on average premiums for 2011 and changes relative to 2008 (the height of the economic downturn). Estimates are also presented by census geographic division for employees who enrolled in offered health insurance plans. Only those estimates that had a statistically significant difference from the national average at the 0.05 percent significance level are noted in the text.