Coverage in employer medical care plans among workers in different wage groups in 2022

Seventy percent of private industry workers had access to medical care benefits in March 2022. Forty-seven percent of workers participated in a medical care plan offered by their employer, resulting in a take-up rate of 66 percent. The take-up rate is the percent of workers with access to an employer-sponsored benefit who choose to participate in the benefit. Twenty-six percent of private industry workers with an average wage in the lowest 10 percent had access to employer-sponsored medical plans in March 2022, while 96 percent of workers with an average wage in the highest 10 percent had access to such plans.

Private industry employers paid 67 percent of premiums for family medical care coverage in March 2022. Workers participating in these plans paid the remaining 33 percent. Employers paid 59 percent of premiums for workers with the lowest 10 percent of wages and 71 percent of premiums for workers with the highest 10 percent of wages.

For single coverage plans, employers paid 78 percent of medical premiums, and employees paid 22 percent. Employers paid 76 percent of premiums for workers with the lowest 10 percent of wages and 80 percent of premiums for those with the highest 10 percent of wages.

These data are from the National Compensation Survey — Benefits program. For more information, see “Employee Benefits in the United States — March 2022.” We also have more charts on employee benefits. Medical care plans provide services or payments for services in a hospital or by a qualified medical care provider.