EMPLOYER-BASED COVERAGE: REPORTS OF ITS DEATH ARE PREMATURE
While some recent reports claim that employment-based coverage is disappearing, new research suggests that the percentage of workers with insurance has declined only slightly. Between 1994 and 2000, the percentage of workers with employer-based coverage held steady at between 73 percent and 75 percent. Since 2000, the percentage of workers with health benefits has fallen to about 71 percent. While a 4 percent drop in the number of workers with health benefits may be significant, it does not imply that these benefits are vanishing, reports the Employer Benefits Research Institute.
One area of decline has been workers who turn down coverage through their employer: coverage among this group dropped from nearly 88 percent in 1988 to 83.5 percent in 2005. While the report does not directly attribute this to any specific causes, the authors do note that employee premiums and deductibles have significantly increased. Researchers also note that more than one-quarter of workers have turned down a job opportunity or stayed in a job they would have otherwise have left because they were concerned about losing their health benefits.
Source: Paul Fronstin, Issue Brief #312:The Future of Employment-Based Health Benefits:
Have Employers Reached a Tipping Point?, Employee Benefit Research Institute, Washington, D.C., December 2007.
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