While this might be good news for government employees, UBA points out that the average cost per employee puts these employers above the Cadillac tax limit of $10,200 per employee. If employers don't reduce their coverage by 2018 below the trigger point, they must pay a fine — and in this case, taxpayers would ultimately be bearing the cost of the fines assessed.

"The government sector historically has provided generous employee benefits," says Les McPhearson, CEO of UBA. "The risk that taxpayers face is the forthcoming 'Cadillac Tax' if public employers can't get their health care costs under the $10,200 premium threshold. The Cadillac tax is hefty — a non-deductible 40 percent excise tax on the excess benefit — which would increase the average cost per employee."

The survey, which is available here, offers myriad other facts, features and tidbits about employer health plans. For instance, it found that manufacturing, health care, construction, retail, and hospitality services sectors have lower-than-average health coverage costs (4 percent to 8 percent below overall industry average costs), "making employees in these industries the least expensive to cover," UBA said.  

"Employees in the construction industry are one of the least expensive for employers to cover at $5,373 per employee, but contribute the most toward their health benefits paying $3,620, approximately 11 percent higher than the average," the survey found.

Construction and food service employers tend to employ a high percentage of younger workers, UBA said, and historically these employers often dispensed with health insurance offerings. But under the terms of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, that's changing.

"In the past, a significant percentage of the employees in the construction and food services industries, many of whom are young, did not value a health plan as part of their compensation package," says Scott Niederbrach, principal, Cherry Creek Benefits, a UBA Partner Firm.

"Employers responded by not including them and building a business in a relatively small margin industry without the health plan in the business formula. Now that PPACA requires the offering of a health plan to avoid the shared responsibility penalty, the employer is crafting a health plan offering that pegs the price of the plan close to the threshold of the definition of affordability under the regulations. The young demographic of these employees would be expected to lead to a lower health plan cost."