According to reports, employers have increased telemedicine opportunities during the COVID-19 pandemic this year Survey results Released on Wednesday.

95% of companies with 50 or more employees provide at least some Telemedicine According to the Caesars Family Foundation’s annual survey on employer benefits, the coverage rate is higher than last year’s 85%. Nearly half of the employers surveyed expect that telemedicine will continue to be an important access point.

The new data highlights the rapid growth of telemedicine driven by the pandemic: three years ago, only one-third of companies with at least 50 employees paid for this benefit.Companies with a moderate share have also increased Mental Health This year’s benefits.

“The expansion of telemedicine and mental health benefits is very important to meet the needs of employees and their families in difficult times,” Caesars Family Foundation executives Gary Clarkston and Matthew Ray said at a press conference. “These types of changes make sense not because employers want to spend more money, but because employers want their employees to view their health benefit plans as’benefits’ and value them accordingly.”

According to statistics, nearly six in ten U.S. residents get medical insurance from work, which is equivalent to 155 million people. This makes employer-based medical benefits the most common form of medical insurance in the United States. Data compilation Provided by the Caesars Family Foundation.

Among companies with at least 200 employees, 35% of companies have expanded the available services and providers through telemedicine, and among companies with 50 to 199 employees, this proportion is 19%. Among employers with 200 or more employees, 27% of employers and 15% of employers with 50 to 199 employees have reduced or eliminated cost sharing for telemedicine.

Although 31% of employers reported improvements in some form of mental health benefits, such as covering telemedicine visits, few took specific measures to increase workers’ access or reduce costs. For example, 6% of companies added more mental health and substance abuse providers to their provider network, 3% increased the coverage of providers outside the network, and 4% gave up or reduced cost sharing.

The survey also found that the cost of employer-sponsored health insurance continued to rise. In 2021, the premium for the family plan will increase by 4% to $22,221. Since 2011, the premiums of family insurance policies have increased by 47%. Employees bear an average of 28% of family plan premiums, and this proportion has remained fairly stable for decades; by 2021, this year will average nearly US$6,000.