Employer-sponsored health insurance rates continue to fall - Lehigh ...

December 5, 2012

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Posted by Tim Darragh at 12:07:25 PM on December 5, 2012

Long before most of the nation heard of Barack Obama, much less "Obamacare," a disturbing trend began to emerge in health insurance -- declining rates of employer-sponsored health coverage.

Now, a new report from the Economic Policy Institute, a non-profit think tank devoted to policies supporting low- and middle-income workers, shows how far things have fallen.

Most Americans under age 65 rely on health insurance offered through the workplace, it notes. And with employment still shakey after the Great Recession, the percentage of those under 65 covered by employer-sponsored health insurance fell for the 11th year in a row in 2011, it said.

Nationally, the percentage fell from 58.6 percent in 2010 to 58.3 percent, the report said.

That's not terrible, but put it in perspective: Since 2000, the rate has fallen 10 points, from 68.5 percent.

The news is even worse in Pennsylvania, where in 2000 more than three-quarters of adults under 65 had employer-sponsored health coverage, the institute said. By 2010-11, it said, that rate fell to 65.5 percent, a hair under 11 percentage points. That translates into more than 1 million additional Pennsylvanians without employer-sponsored coverage.

Meanwhile, the percentage of non-elderly adults who purchased their own health insurance privately remained relatively flat it said -- not surprising, considering the lousy economy and the cost of private insurance.

Here's the sobering conclusion: "Employer-sponsored health insurance is increasingly failing American families... In the future, other major elements of health reform?particularly the provisions establishing health insurance exchanges and the accompanying subsidies, which will come into effect in 2014 ? will make it easier and more affordable for Americans to secure and maintain health insurance coverage. Unfortunately, the continued weak labor market, with its inadequate job creation and the accompanying limited bargaining power of workers, will likely lead to further losses in employer-sponsored insurance coverage before major relief from health reform materializes."

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Source: http://blogs.mcall.com/health/2012/12/employer-paid-health-insurance-rates-continue-to-fall.html

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