September 29, 2010 5:07PM # KFF/HRET Survey, Part III: Employers Can’t Shift to Workers a Cost that Workers Already Bear By [Michael F. Cannon](https://www.cato.org/people/michael-f-cannon) --- SHARE In a previous [post](https://www.cato.org/kffhret-survey-part-i-some-people-dont-know-good-news-when-they-see-it/), I promised to address the negative spin that the Kaiser Family Foundation put on its annual [Employer Health Benefits Survey](http://ehbs.kff.org/), released this month. I do so in an [op-ed](http://dailycaller.com/2010/09/29/workers-not-employers-bear-the-full-cost-of-health-benefits/) that ran today at the *Daily Caller*. An excerpt: > The [Kaiser Family Foundation](http://www.kff.org/) recently issued its [annual survey of employer-sponsored health benefits](http://ehbs.kff.org/), [declaring](http://www.kff.org/insurance/090210nr.cfm): “Family Health Premiums Rise 3 Percent to $13,770 in 2010, But Workers’ Share Jumps 14 Percent as Firms Shift Cost Burden.” That’s half-right — but the other half perpetuates a myth about employee health benefits that stands in the way of real health care reform.… > > > \[Y\]ou pay the *full* cost of your health benefits: partly through an explicit $4,000 premium and partly because your wages are $9,770 lower than they otherwise would be. > > > Kaiser therefore claims the impossible when it says that firms are shifting costs to workers. **Employers cannot shift to workers a cost that workers already bear.** Yet this year, as in past years, [the Associated Press](http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ji0SNLAAEyIxP5mGDPzeTju9n5FQD9HVRT980), [Bloomberg](http://www.app.com/article/20100902/BUSINESS/100902040/Workers-pay-14-percent-more-for-health-insurance-in-2010), [CNN](http://money.cnn.com/2010/09/02/news/economy/kaiser_employer_benefits_report_2010/), [Kaiser Health News](http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2010/September/02/kff-employer-survey.aspx), [*The Los Angeles Times*](http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-fi-healthcare-costs-20100903,0,4661241.story), *[The New York Times](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/03/business/03insure.html)*, [NPR](http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2010/09/02/129602153/), *[The Wall Street Journal](http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703431604575467902840224786.html)*, and *[The Washington Post](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/02/AR2010090202265.html)* uncritically repeated the cost-shifting myth. The bolded sentence is Cannon’s Second Rule of Economic Literacy. (Click [here](https://www.cato.org/paul-ryans-roadmap-and-the-difference-between-costs-and-spending/) for the first rule.) I have also collected a series of excerpts from past Kaiser Family Foundation surveys showing this is a persistent issue. Here are a few: > [1998](http://www.kff.org/insurance/upload/1998-Health-Benefits-Survey-of-Small-Employers-Report.pdf): “Workers in small firms bear a much larger share of the financial burden for health benefits than employees of larger firms.” > > > [2005](http://www.kff.org/insurance/7315/upload/7315.pdf): “The average worker paid $2,713 toward premiums for family coverage in 2005 or 26% of the total health premium.” > > > [2007](http://www.kff.org/insurance/7672/upload/76723.pdf): “Annual Premiums for Family Coverage Now Average $12,106, With Workers Paying $3,281” The folks at the Kaiser Family Foundation were exceedingly gracious when I approached them to discuss this issue. ##### Related Tags [Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics), [Health Care](https://www.cato.org/health-care) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).