Public sector employees have a significant advantage over private sector workers and employees of nonprofits when it comes to health insurance coverage, especially in retirement, according to a report by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
The report underscores the value of health benefits as part of a total compensation package, which the federal government offers to virtually all of its employees, plus its retirees, with an employer contribution averaging about 70 percent of the total premiums, for both self-only and self and family coverage.
However, the report found that practices vary widely elsewhere.
One difference involved levels of employer contributions toward premiums. Among private sector employers, the average contribution toward family coverage was 30 percent, but just 20 percent for self-only coverage. Among non-profits there also was a difference by type of coverage, 27 percent and 14 percent, respectively.
Also, it found that among entities with 200 or more workers that offer health insurance to their active workers, only 18 percent of private sector employers and only 23 percent of nonprofits extend that coverage to their retirees.
The report did not examine the percentage of private sector firms or nonprofits that offer health insurance at all, a percentage that other studies have found to be steadily decreasing in recent years.
