Employer health plans · Illinois
Employer health plans in Illinois
How Illinois employers fund their health plans and which carriers insure them.
2024 plan filings
Employer health plans in Illinois at a glance
Employer plan filings, 2024
Large employer health plans
3,199
form year 2024
Fully insured
2,165
68% of large plans
Self-funded
974
16% with stop-loss
Small plans
42
fewer details reported
Median premium per person covered
$7,289
insured contracts, all carriers
Insurance carriers for Illinois 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 | 1,496 | 69% | 888,089 | $7,619 | 4.0% |
| UnitedHealthcare | 297 | 14% | 145,423 | $5,702 | 5.0% |
| Kaiser Permanente | 177 | 8% | 81,594 | $9,988 | 3.4% |
| Cigna | 173 | 8% | 231,989 | $1,578 | 5.4% |
| Aetna | 88 | 4% | 75,196 | $5,427 | 3.5% |
| Humana | 25 | 1% | 37,460 | $1,367 | 6.9% |
| Anthem (Elevance Health) | 13 | 1% | 14,552 | $7,729 | 3.6% |
Fully insured vs self-funded
Large employer health plans, 2020–2024
| Form year | Large plans | Insured | Self-funded | Self-funded share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 3,072 | 2,089 | 925 | 30% |
| 2021 | 3,138 | 2,099 | 987 | 31% |
| 2022 | 3,168 | 2,175 | 933 | 29% |
| 2023 | 3,281 | 2,266 | 951 | 29% |
| 2024 | 3,199 | 2,165 | 974 | 30% |
| 2025 (partial) | 2,473 | 1,597 | 826 | 33% |
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.