Employer health plans · Arkansas
Employer health plans in Arkansas
How Arkansas employers fund their health plans and which carriers insure them.
2024 plan filings
Employer health plans in Arkansas at a glance
Employer plan filings, 2024
Large employer health plans
420
form year 2024
Fully insured
257
61% of large plans
Self-funded
141
23% with stop-loss
Small plans
4
fewer details reported
Median premium per person covered
$5,067
insured contracts, all carriers
Insurance carriers for Arkansas employer health plans
Insured large plans by carrier group, form year 2024
| Carrier | Plans | Share | Persons covered | Median premium / person | Median broker % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Cross Blue Shield | 141 | 55% | 42,699 | $5,286 | 3.1% |
| Cigna | 36 | 14% | 13,769 | $6,105 | 4.4% |
| UnitedHealthcare | 32 | 12% | 8,490 | $4,843 | 3.4% |
| Aetna | 5 | 2% | 22,428 | $270 | 13.2% |
| Kaiser Permanente | 4 | 2% | 22,785 | $9,200 | 1.5% |
Fully insured vs self-funded
Large employer health plans, 2020–2024
| Form year | Large plans | Insured | Self-funded | Self-funded share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 404 | 270 | 119 | 29% |
| 2021 | 410 | 255 | 141 | 34% |
| 2022 | 433 | 272 | 142 | 33% |
| 2023 | 449 | 287 | 141 | 31% |
| 2024 | 420 | 257 | 141 | 34% |
| 2025 (partial) | 330 | 179 | 126 | 38% |
Methodology
How these numbers are calculated
- Sources: employer health plan filings for 2020–2024 (2025 is still coming in and is labelled partial), negotiated rates published by health insurers and hospitals (2026), and Medicare fee schedules for reference.
- Which plans count: large employer health plans, placed in the state of the employer's business address. A carrier's figures count plans with a major-medical insurance contract with that carrier. Self-funded plans that a carrier only administers are not counted under that carrier, and supplemental coverage (dental, vision, accident, hospital indemnity) is excluded.
- Premium per person covered: premium divided by the persons covered on the contract, for contracts covering at least 20 persons.
- Broker pay: commissions and fees paid on each contract, as a share of that contract's premium.
- Network rates: physician negotiated rates for the Employer 50 services, from a sample of providers, shown as a percentage of Medicare. Shown only where the network passes Medlyze's quality checks for the state.
- Hospital prices: commercial negotiated rates (2026) for the whole hospital stay or the hospital's facility charge. Medicare Advantage, Medicaid and individual-market rates are excluded, and so is Humana, whose hospital rates are almost all Medicare. Physician, anesthesia and implant charges are separate.
- Not a judgement: differences describe the plans and rates analyzed. They are not findings about any employer, carrier or broker, and they say nothing about quality or value.
Get the full figures
Brokers: an Employer Account Brief on one employer, or a Prospect List for this market. Employers: a Plan Cost Benchmark for your own plan, with every hospital near your people.