Massachusetts Employer Survey (MES)

The 2026 Massachusetts Employer Survey (MES) is currently in the field! Participation deadline extended to June 30, 2026.

This survey asks Massachusetts employers about their experiences offering health insurance to employees. CHIA will release a summary report of key findings later this year.

If you have received a survey invitation with a login ID and password, learn more and access the 2026 MES. CHIA thanks participating organizations for their time and for contributing to a more transparent health care system.

Overview

About two-thirds of Massachusetts residents obtain health insurance through an employer, either their own or a family member’s. Employer-sponsored insurance shapes the health insurance markets in the state and impacts the demand for the Commonwealth’s public health insurance programs, including MassHealth.

The Massachusetts Employer Survey (MES), an ongoing health insurance survey of employers, tracks and monitors employer health insurance offerings, employee take-up rates, cost-sharing, plan characteristics, and employer decision-making. It has been conducted 12 times in the past from 2001 to 2024.

To provide a better understanding of the employer health insurance market in the Commonwealth, the 2026 MES has several key updates, including new and revised questions on the impacts of rising health care costs on employers, employer decision-making around self-insurance, direct contracting with pharmacy benefit managers, and employer strategies to control the costs of providing health care for their employees.

Report Materials (December 2024)

MES 2024 Report (PDF) Databook (Excel) Survey Methods (PDF) Survey Questionnaire (PDF)

Key Findings

In 2024, 67 percent of firms in Massachusetts offered health insurance, higher than the national rate of 54 percent, but a comparable proportion of employees in firms offering insurance actually enrolled in their employer-sponsored insurance (56 percent and 61 percent, respectively).

Compared with their national counterparts, the average monthly premium for single coverage was higher in Massachusetts ($789 vs. $746), and employees contributed a larger share of the premium (24 percent vs. 15 percent) with lower average annual deductibles ($1,354 vs. $1,787).

Among firms offering insurance, 71 percent offered at least one high deductible health plan (HDHP). More than half of small firms (56 percent) and nearly one-third of large firms (31 percent) offered HDHPs exclusively.

Among firms (34 percent) that offered HDHPs with an accompanying savings option—Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) or Health Savings Account (HSA)—firms contributed an average of $1,916 annually to HRAs and $630 to HSAs for single coverage, and approximately twice that amount ($3,480 and $1,255, respectively) for family coverage.

Nearly a quarter of firms (23 percent) reported having increased member cost-sharing in the past 12 months to manage rising health insurance costs.

Previous Publications

Commercial Premiums and Member Cost-Sharing

Annual data on health premiums is used to show costs for Massachusetts employers and workers and to track high-deductible plans and out-of-pocket costs.

Health Insurance Enrollment Trends

Twice per year, CHIA updates its Enrollment Trends analysis to show what types of health insurance Massachusetts residents have.