Small employers are faring better than average when it comes tocontaining costs within their health insuranceplans, but are also asking employees to shoulder more of theexpenses, according to a new United Benefit Advisors’ report,“Small Businesses Keeping Pace with NationwideHealth Trends.

Based on the most recent UBA Health Plan Survey, the reportfinds employees across all plan types pay an average of $3,378toward annual health insurance benefits, with their employerpicking up the rest of the total cost of $9,727, according to thesurvey. Among employers with less than 100 workers, employees pay$3,557, with their employer picking up the balance of $9,474 — onlya 5.3 percent difference compared with the overallnumbers.

However, small businesses are passing nearly 6.6 percent more ofthe costs for single coverage and nearly 10 percent more of thecosts of family coverage on to employees. And that number increasesto 17.8 percent more and over 50 percent more, respectively, whensmall employers are compared to their largest counterparts.

“While employers with 500 to 1,000 or more employees may indeedoffer better coverage — lower copays, deductibles, in-networkout-of-pocket maximums, and monthly premiums — small employers havea lot to offer employees when it comes to wages, purpose,flexibility, et cetera,” says USB president Peter Weber, UBA.“Small employers would do well to benchmark their plans againsttheir same-size peers and communicate how competitive their plansare relative to average national costs, deductibles, copays, and more.”

Small employers with 25 to 49 workers cut a better deal: theaverage cost per employee for this group is only $9,165, comparedto the $9,727 average annual cost per employee for all plans is$9,727.

"Keep in mind that relief such as grandmothering and the PACEAct helped many of these small groups stay in pre-ACA plans atbetter rates, unlike their larger counterparts,” says Weber.“Generally speaking, however, small businesses are not cuttingcorners with their coverage. Copays, deductibles, and HSA funding —when offered — are generally in line with average employers.”

The survey also found that small businesses, like other averageemployers, are primarily offering preferred provider organizationplans, though in some cases they are migrating more rapidly tohealth maintenance organizations and consumer-directed healthplans.