Employees face multiple health-related risks that can adversely affect their financial wellness. Those risks include disability and premature death. And as employer-provided health care benefits continue to evolve for a growing number of Americans, you might be able to add out-of-pocket health care costs to the list, too.

Consider these trends:

• Health care costs are expected to increase faster than inflation. From 2011 to 2020, health expenditures are projected to grow at an annual rate of 5.3 percent, outpacing expected inflation of 2.1 percent.
• In response to these rising costs, many employers have been forced to shift responsibility for health care costs to employees, exposing employees to higher out-of-pocket medical costs. As an example, many employers offer high-deductible health plans (HDHPs), which commonly have deductibles of $1,000 or more. Mercer reports that, in 2012, 26 percent of employers that offered health benefits offered an HDHP, up from 12 percent in 2010. Fifty-four percent of HDHP participants have aggregate out-of-pocket family maximums of $7,000 or more, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Many households lack the funds needed to accommodate these higher costs should an unexpected health care event occur. It's estimated that about half of U.S. households have savings of less than $10,000. While many employees may be covered by disability insurance, the benefit received is often a portion of the employee's income, making cash outlays in the event of a serious illness difficult for those Americans living paycheck to paycheck.

Filling the coverage gap