Health insurance costs 7.6 percent of total compensation for private employers in September 2016

In September 2016, health insurance for employees cost private industry employers $2.44 per hour worked, representing 7.6 percent of total compensation costs. For establishments with fewer than 50 employees, health insurance costs amounted to $1.59 per hour worked, or 6.0 percent of total employee compensation costs. Health insurance costs for establishments with 50–99 workers were $1.94 per hour worked, or 7.0 percent of total compensation costs. 

Health insurance cost employers at establishments with more than 500 workers $4.28 per hour worked in September 2016, or 9.0 percent of total compensation costs; for those at establishments with 100–499 workers, these costs totaled $2.77 per hour worked (8.5 percent of total compensation costs). 

Private industry employer costs for health insurance have not been lower than the current 7.6 percent of total compensation since March 2011, having reached a peak of 7.9 percent of total compensation in March 2014. 

These data are from the Employment Cost Trends program and are not seasonally adjusted. To learn more, see "Employer Costs for Employee Compensation—September 2016" (HTML) (PDF).