Sunday, February 21, 2021

Private Sector Employee-Only Health Premium Costs in the Mountain States

The annual premium rate for employee-only (i.e. single premium) health insurance for Mountain states' private sector employers generally falls below national average rates. Wyoming private-employers, large and small, deal with single premium health insurance rates that typically run higher the national average rate for similar sized private employers.  Likewise, small employers (with fewer than 50 employees) in New Mexico and larger employers in Montana face higher than national average premium rates for employee-only health coverage.  But elsewhere in the region, annual premium rate rates for both small and large private employers typically run below national averages.  A detailed look at the data from the most recent Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (2019), which is administered by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, reveals the following about private sector employee-only health premium costs in the Mountain states and nationally:

State (1) Small Firms (2) Large Firms Overall Avg.
AZ $5,924 $6,627 $6,517
CO $6,144 $6,634 $6,550
ID $5,962 $6,476 $6,346
MT $6,063 $7,235 $6,899
NV $5,464 $6,785 $6,586
NM $7,249 $6,583 $6,696
UT $5,067 $6,441 $6,253
WY $7,590 $7,054 $7,209
U.S. $6,920 $6,983 $6,972

(1) fewer than 50 employees
(2) 50 or more employees

Source:  Medical Expenditure Panel Survey  Table II.C.1 - Average total single premium (in dollars) per enrolled employee at private-sector establishments that offer health insurance by firm size and State: United States, 2019