The number of employer-sponsored healthcare plans has been on the decline for years as fewer companies are offering it and a declining number of employees are taking it.
According a recent study by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), the percentage of workers with health insurance coverage has been declining since 1997, mostly because of companies that have dropped their coverage. Other reasons include the out-of-pocket costs for the employees or coverage from another source, such as a spouse.
“Since 2002, the percentage of American workers with health coverage has fallen, mostly because fewer workers have access to coverage through their jobs,” said Paul Fronstin, PhD, author of the report and director of EBRI’s Health and Education Program in a press release. “Fewer employers are offering the benefit, fewer workers are eligible for it, and fewer workers are taking advantage of the benefit when it is offered, largely due to cost.”
The report says the decline in employer-provided health benefits is part of a larger trend, although more recent declines were caused by the 2007–2009 recession.
Between 1997 and 2010, the percentage of workers who declined coverage because of cost increased from 23.2 percent to 29.1 percent, the report says. In 2010, two-thirds reported that they declined coverage because they had other coverage, down from 78.9 percent in 1997.
In 2010, one-half of workers whose employers did not offer health benefits were uninsured, up from 44.1 percent in 1997. In contrast, 29.7 percent of those workers had employment-based health benefits as dependents, 8.1 percent purchased health insurance directly from insurers, and 11.7 percent were covered by public programs.
Among workers who were not eligible for their employers’ health plans, 38.7 percent were uninsured in 2010, and 41.1 percent had employment-based health benefits as dependents.
