The cost of insuring a family of four with an employer-sponsored health plan in the United States averaged $12,298 in 2008, according to the latest research study on health care premiums.

According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality who conducted the research on employee health insurance:

• Almost 20 million of the 62.5 million workers enrolled in employer-based insurance in 2008 had family plans 11 million had employee-plus-one plans.
  
• 31.5 million employee had single-coverage plans.
  

Health Plan Insurance Premium Costs

• The annual premium for covering an employee and one family member, known as an “employee-plus-one” plan, averaged $8,535
  
• The annual premium for a plan that only covered the employee averaged $4,386.

Health Plan Insurance Premium Contribution by Employees

• Nationally, workers enrolled in family plans last year contributed an average of $3,394 toward the cost of their premiums, compared with $2,303 for an employee-plus-one policy and $882 for a single-coverage plan.

Health Plan Insurance Premium Contribution by Employers

• For about 22 percent of workers with single-coverage plans, their employers paid the entire premium amount. In contrast, employers paid the entire premiums for just 11 percent of workers with family plans and 9 percent of those with employee-plus-one plans.

State by State Comparisons for Health Plan Insurance Premiums

• People in Florida contributed the most for a family health plan ($4,412) Indiana workers contributed the least for a family health plan ($2,472)
• New Hampshire workers contributed the most for employee-plus one health plans ($3,005)
• Idaho workers contributed the least for employee-plus one for single coverage health plans ($1,736)
• New Hampshire workers contributed the most for single coverage health plans ($1,264)
• Hawaii contributed the least ($451) for single coverage health plans ($1,264)