In their ongoing bid to cut the cost of benefits, a growing number of employers are levying a surcharge on the spouses of employees who sign up for health care coverage if they are eligible for them in their own workplace.
A Towers Watson survey this year of more than 600 companies found that 20 percent charge an average of $100 a month for spouses in that situation to be added to health care benefits. A Mercer study in 2012 found a smaller cohort of companies with more than 500 employees (18 percent) reported similar figures.
The change in spousal benefits is part of a broader effort by employers to look for ways to cut the cost of benefits. The average cost of providing health care for a family was $16,351 this year, a 4 percent rise from 2012, according to a survey by Kaiser Health. Employees, on average, paid $4,565 of that total.
Recommended For You
Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to BenefitsPRO, part of your ALM digital membership.
Your access to unlimited BenefitsPRO content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to asset-and-logo-licensing@alm.com. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
