Rise in Health Insurance Costs May Affect Other Benefit Decisions

However, when faced with a 50% increase in health insurance costs, 41% of single heads of household would resort to cancelling their insurance. Employees also showed a willingness to eliminate or decrease contributions to their retirement plans in response to rising health insurance costs.  

Fewer than 20% of respondents to the Sun Life survey said they would consider cancelling or decreasing their other benefits if faced with a 50% rise in health insurance costs. Among the other benefits employees would consider cancelling, long-term care insurance, short-term disability insurance, and vision insurance were the top three they would cancel.  

Dental insurance was the least likely to be cancelled, and more respondents were likely to keep life insurance than to cancel it.  

Sun Life surveyed 2,828 adults who are the primary decisionmaker or share the employee benefit decisionmaking responsibilities for their households and work full- or part-time for an employer with 25 or more employees.