Employer health plans · Washington
Employer health plans in Washington
How Washington employers fund their health plans and which carriers insure them.
2024 plan filings
Employer health plans in Washington at a glance
Employer plan filings, 2024
Large employer health plans
1,542
form year 2024
Fully insured
759
49% of large plans
Self-funded
753
9% with stop-loss
Small plans
17
fewer details reported
Median premium per person covered
$7,632
insured contracts, all carriers
Insurance carriers for Washington 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 | 289 | 38% | 227,222 | $7,473 | 4.3% |
| Kaiser Permanente | 281 | 37% | 135,457 | $9,261 | 3.1% |
| UnitedHealthcare | 101 | 13% | 59,358 | $6,470 | 4.1% |
| Aetna | 71 | 9% | 34,685 | $7,274 | 4.0% |
| Cigna | 65 | 9% | 24,841 | $4,379 | 5.3% |
| Humana | 5 | 1% | 690 | $4,347 | – |
| Anthem (Elevance Health) | 1 | 0% | 273 | $238 | – |
Fully insured vs self-funded
Large employer health plans, 2020–2024
| Form year | Large plans | Insured | Self-funded | Self-funded share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 1,535 | 832 | 683 | 44% |
| 2021 | 1,547 | 816 | 704 | 46% |
| 2022 | 1,590 | 829 | 737 | 46% |
| 2023 | 1,621 | 830 | 759 | 47% |
| 2024 | 1,542 | 759 | 753 | 49% |
| 2025 (partial) | 1,098 | 511 | 574 | 52% |
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.