Employer health plans · Massachusetts
Employer health plans in Massachusetts
How Massachusetts employers fund their health plans and which carriers insure them.
2024 plan filings
Employer health plans in Massachusetts at a glance
Employer plan filings, 2024
Large employer health plans
2,087
form year 2024
Fully insured
1,524
73% of large plans
Self-funded
536
12% with stop-loss
Small plans
15
fewer details reported
Median premium per person covered
$8,252
insured contracts, all carriers
Insurance carriers for Massachusetts 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 | 801 | 53% | 436,191 | $8,043 | 2.6% |
| Cigna | 194 | 13% | 128,548 | $7,701 | 4.5% |
| UnitedHealthcare | 117 | 8% | 54,034 | $7,229 | 3.2% |
| Kaiser Permanente | 108 | 7% | 24,265 | $9,680 | 4.5% |
| Aetna | 52 | 3% | 57,621 | $7,400 | 1.8% |
| Anthem (Elevance Health) | 5 | 0% | 5,055 | $7,414 | 2.7% |
Fully insured vs self-funded
Large employer health plans, 2020–2024
| Form year | Large plans | Insured | Self-funded | Self-funded share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 1,956 | 1,482 | 451 | 23% |
| 2021 | 2,001 | 1,508 | 469 | 23% |
| 2022 | 2,052 | 1,546 | 481 | 23% |
| 2023 | 2,119 | 1,600 | 495 | 23% |
| 2024 | 2,087 | 1,524 | 536 | 26% |
| 2025 (partial) | 1,400 | 978 | 411 | 29% |
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.