In the U.S. many employers pay a portion of health care costs for employees. As of 2019, the total annual medical costs for employees was just over 13 thousand U.S. dollars. That cost is expected to increase to 13.7 thousand U.S. dollars by 2020. There have been recent changes to employer-offered health care through the Affordable Care Act that requires employers with over 50 employees to offer affordable health care options to their employees.

U.S. health benefits at work

In the United States, both employers and employees may pay health care costs, depending on the work. In a recent survey U.S. residents were asked what benefits they expected from their employers, a vast majority of them said that they expect health care benefits. Despite the demand from employer-sponsored healthcare coverage, not all companies feel that they would be able to offer health coverage as an employment benefit. Another recent survey has illustrated that employer confidence in offering health insurance can change dramatically from year-to-year.

U.S. sick leave benefits

Another aspect of workplace health and wellness, is annual sick leave. In general, a majority of U.S. workers have access to a fixed number of paid sick days per year. However, a very small proportion of employees had access to paid sick leave as needed. As of 2017, around half of all employees utilized up to 5 days of sick leave per year. Despite that, there was still a large proportion, especially among those aged 18-30 years that went to work even though they were ill.

In the United States, average employee premium contributions and deductibles as a percentage of median household income have risen in the past decade. In 2020, an employee’s total potential out-of-pocket medical costs (premium and deductible) amounted to 11.6 percent of median income. This included 6.9 percent in employee premium contributions and 4.7 percent in deductibles. However, states varied greatly in median income spent on premiums and deductibles, with workers in Mississippi having to spend on average 19 percent of their income on potential out-of-pocket medical costs.

Employer sponsored health insurance In 2020, over half of the U.S. population has some type of employment-based health insurance coverage. The Affordable Care Act penalizes large employers (with 50 or more full-time employees), if they do not provide health insurance to their employees. Nevertheless, of the uninsured aged under 65 years, the large majority worked either full or part-time (or someone in their household did).

Out-of-pocket medical costs Despite having insurance coverage, most plans have a deductible, the amount an insured must pay themselves that year before their insurance starts covering for them. The average annual deductible for single coverage amounted to roughly 1,700 U.S. dollars in 2021. Even after reaching their deductible, most insured have other forms of out-of-pocket health costs in the form of co-payments and co-insurance for health services or prescription drugs.

According to a survey conducted in China, among *** surveyed enterprises, ** percent stated that the average annual cost of high-end health insurance was 10,000 to ****** yuan per insured employee. Four percent of companies spent over ****** yuan for each insured employee on the high-end health insurance.

In 2023, single coverage health insurance for employees cost more than ***** U.S. dollars for the year. this figure has increase every year since 2000, with the average annual cost of health insurance for singles being ***** in 2000.

In 2023, employers are expecting total health benefit cost per employee to grow by ***** percent if they continue with the current health plans without making any changes. After making changes in the health benefit plans, employers plan to curb the annual cost growth at *** percent in 2023. This statistic represents the projected and actual annual change in health cost per employee in the U.S. from 2011 to 2021, with forecast for 2022 and 2023.

As of 2025, spending on professional services for an average person in the U.S. was approximately 11,541 U.S. dollars annually, whereas around 7,173 U.S. dollars were spent on outpatient services. This statistic shows the components of annual medical costs for an average person in the United States.

In 2025, U.S. employees contributed an average of 1,440 U.S. dollars towards their employer-sponsored single coverage health insurance. Furthermore, employers contributed on average 7,884 U.S. dollars towards a worker's single coverage health insurance.

In the United States, the employer contribution for an average person's annual medical costs was approximately ***** U.S. dollars in 2025 compared to ***** U.S. dollars in 2018. This statistic shows the contribution of payment sources of annual medical costs for an average person in the U.S. from 2018 to 2025.

In 2020, an employee's premium contributions and deductibles were 10 percent or more of their state's median income in 37 states. Workers in Mississippi and New Mexico faced the highest total potential out-of-pocket medical costs relative to their income at 19 and 18.1 percent respectively. This statistic shows the percentage of state median income spent on premium contribution and deductible by U.S. employees in 2020, by state.

There is a discrepancy between the share of employees who understand their total annual health costs well and the share of employers who think their employees understand these costs well. Employers tend to overestimate how well their employees understand health care costs. This statistic shows the share of employees who understand their total annual costs for health care vs employers' viewpoint in the U.S. in 2023.

In 2025, employers in the U.S. on average spent 7.8 percent of total employee cost compensation on health insurance benefits. After salary and wages, health insurance forms the second-largest component of employer costs for employee compensation.

In 2022, the median annual gross cost per employee for family coverage amounted to ****** U.S. dollars in a preferred provider organization (PPO) and ****** U.S. dollars in high-deductible health plans (HDHP). Overall, the median annual gross cost per employee for any type of health coverage was lower in high-deductible health plans in comparison to other health plans.

In 2023, health insurance with single coverage for finance employees in the United States cost on average 8,836 U.S. dollars per year. This was the industry with the highest health insurance costs in that year.

In 2021, healthcare costs under the Dutch Health Insurance Act (Zvw) amounted to an average of ***** euros per person for every resident in the Netherlands. This is an increase when compared to the previous year.

The Dutch health insurance system as it is now was introduced in 2006 and combines elements of both public as well as private insurance. It is mandatory to have at least a basic health insurance (in Dutch: basisverzekering) when you work in the Netherlands, because healthcare is funded through taxation of income.

In the United States, 28 percent of medical costs for an average person went towards professional services and 21 percent of costs were pharmacy-related. This statistic shows the distribution of annual medical costs for an average person in the U.S. as of 2025.

In 2023, the average total annual premium for employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) amounted to 23,938 U.S. dollars, while the employee's contribution was on average 6,889 U.S. dollars, while the employer made up the rest of the difference. However, the total annual premium for ESI ranged widely, from 20.5 thousand U.S. dollars in Arkansas to nearly 26 thousand U.S. dollars in New Jersey the same year. This statistic shows the average annual premiums for employer-sponsored family health insurance plans in the United States, by state, in 2023.

In 2020, the average out-of-pocket (OOP) spending on healthcare services per person in the U.S. for women amounted to ***** U.S. dollars, and for men, was ***** U.S. dollars. During the provided time interval, women on average spend approximately ************* U.S. dollars more than men OOP annually on healthcare services.

In 2025, among U.S. employees with single coverage who had a general annual deductible, a worker had to pay on average ***** U.S. dollars per year out-of-pocket before their employer-sponsored insurance plan covered their health cost.

In 2022, employees working in the agriculture, fisheries, and forestry industries in the U.S. on average contributed **** percent of the premium for single health insurance coverage. This statistic displays the average share of premium contribution of employees for single health insurance coverage in the United States in 2022, by industry.

In fiscal year 2022, among employee health insurance systems in Japan, the annual expenses were highest for the Japan health insurance association, at around *** trillion Japanese yen. The annual expenses for society-managed health insurance followed, with around *** trillion Japanese yen.