Employers know that offering health care benefits to employees is a costly proposition. After all, health care costs are just going up, and somebody has to pay the premiums for the group health insurance plan that provides health insurance coverage for employees. Just how costly is it to provide a group health insurance plan?

The website Reliable Plant recently published a chart that outlines the health insurance benefit costs, broken down by occupational group. This chart is a breakdown of a recent March 2010 report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics which outlines the overall cost of employees to businesses.

The average cost to a company that provides medical benefits to employees is $2.08 per hour. In other words, the average cost per employee is around $4326 annually. Imagine a company with hundreds of employees, and you can see how health care costs really add up for employers. This is a great reason to shop around and compare group medical insurance plans so that you are getting affordable protection for your employees.

The actual range of costs is 92 cents for service workers to $3.03 for management and professionals. The report didn’t address the reason why the costs vary so much, but if I were to venture a guess, I would say that service workers aren’t getting the same level of coverage that the head honchos are getting. Just a guess, but I think I might be onto something.

It is also interesting to note that average costs vary by region, with costs in the South being the most affordable, and costs in the Northeast being the highest. I am always interested to see stats that break down how costs vary – with this report showing how costs vary depending on the industry and the location.

So, if you have employees, and you want to offer health care coverage, shop around for a group health insurance plan that gives your employees the coverage they want at a price your business can afford.