KFF December 1, 2022
Employer and union-sponsored retiree health plans can play an important role in providing supplemental benefits to people with Medicare, but just 13 percent of large employers currently offer retiree health benefits to Medicare-age retirees, according to the KFF Employer Health Benefit Survey. Concerns about costs associated with retiree health benefits have led employers and unions to implement changes to limit their financial liability while continuing to offer retiree health benefits, including establishing financial caps on their liability, shifting toward defined contribution approaches, increasing retirees’ premium contribution, and more recently, by offering their Medicare-eligible retirees coverage through Medicare Advantage plans.
This analysis uses data from the 2022 KFF Employer Health Benefits Survey to examine the extent to which large private and...