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Health care benefits take-up rate was 77 percent for private industry workers in March 2021

September 30, 2021

Health care benefits were available to 71 percent of private industry workers in March 2021, and 54 percent of workers participated in the benefit, resulting in a 77-percent take-up rate. The take-up rate is the percentage of workers with access to an employer-sponsored benefit who choose to participate in the benefit. Take-up rates varied among different industries. For example, the take-up rate in utilities was 90 percent, while leisure and hospitality was 45 percent in March 2021.

Take-up rate for private industry workers with access to and participating in health care benefits, for select industries, 2011 to 2021
Year All workers Construction Manufacturing Wholesale trade Retail trade Transportation and warehousing Utilities Information

2011

79% 79% 87% 83% 71% 82% 94% 80%

2012

79 77 86 82 70 82 93 82

2013

79 78 85 83 74 83 93 80

2014

79 79 85 83 72 83 93 82

2015

79 80 84 81 70 80 91 86

2016

80 81 86 82 70 83 95 89

2017

80 82 87 83 69 80 91 86

2018

79 84 87 82 64 82 88 88

2019

79 82 85 83 65 83 93 88

2020

78 78 84 82 66 81 91 87

2021

77 77 85 80 65 80 90 87
 Take-up rate for private industry workers with access to and participating in health care benefits, for select industries, 2011 to 2021 (continued)
Year Financial activities Professional and business services Educational services Health care and social assistance Leisure and hospitality Other services

2011

84% 83% 79% 77% 63% 75%

2012

84 82 81 76 62 76

2013

83 81 80 77 58 79

2014

84 81 83 75 60 78

2015

85 82 83 77 61 75

2016

85 81 84 79 59 80

2017

84 80 84 78 66 78

2018

84 78 85 80 67 80

2019

85 80 82 79 64 80

2020

84 79 78 77 58 78

2021

84 82 77 71 45 80

For medical care premiums, employers paid 78 percent of medical care premiums for single coverage plans and 66 percent for family coverage plans in March 2021. The average flat monthly premium paid by employers was $475.69 for single coverage and $1,174.00 for family coverage during this period.

 Average monthly medical care premiums paid by employers, by type of coverage, for select industries, in private industry, 2021
Industry Single coverage Percent paid by employer Percent paid by employee Family coverage Percent paid by employer Percent paid by employee

Utilities

$585.80 84% 16% $1585.24 79% 21%

Educational services

541.31 81 19 1216.22 65 35

Other services

517.78 80 20 1174.03 61 39

Health care and social assistance

497.15 80 20 1116.51 63 37

Transportation and warehousing

496.23 78 22 1282.39 70 30

Financial activities

490.41 79 21 1276.25 70 30

Information

486.20 81 19 1285.96 73 27

All workers

475.69 78 22 1174.00 66 34

Leisure and hospitality

474.85 78 22 1073.96 58 42

Manufacturing

469.76 79 21 1278.52 73 27

Professional and business services

462.62 76 24 1148.71 64 36

Construction

451.29 76 24 1081.64 65 35

Wholesale trade

444.25 77 23 1083.32 65 35

Retail trade

434.64 73 27 1031.04 62 38

Employers in the utilities industry paid 84 percent of medical care premiums for single coverage plans and 79 percent for family coverage plans. The average flat monthly premium paid by employers was $585.80 for single coverage and $1,585.24 for family coverage in this industry.

These data are from the National Compensation Survey — Benefits program. For more information, see "Employee Benefits in the United States — March 2021" and the complete dataset (XLSX). We also have more charts on employee benefits.

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Health care benefits take-up rate was 77 percent for private industry workers in March 2021 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2021/health-care-benefits-take-up-rate-was-77-percent-for-private-industry-workers-in-march-2021.htm (visited March 29, 2024).

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