The percentage of employees enrolled in a health insurance plan that required a deductible was 48 in 2002--and 64 in 2005, according to a new issue brief from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. And by 2005, small firms’ employees were almost as likely as large firms’ employees to have a deductible: 65.5 percent versus 63.6 percent.
The average amount of the deductible for a single coverage plan in 2005 had risen to $652, from $446 in 2002--a 46 percent increase. In both years, enrollees at small firms had a much larger single deductible than those of large firms, said the report.
The same was true for family coverage for employees of small firms compared with those of large firms: For all firms, the average deductible for family coverage went up from $958 in 2002 to $1,232 in 2005--a 29 percent increase. Read the issue brief.
