Study: Fewer Employers Offer Health Insurance
October 17, 2008
 A new Economic Policy Institute study reveals that the foundation of healthcare in America – employer-based insurance – is crumbling steadily, dragging more and more families and children into the ranks of the uninsured.
While lower-income earners are more likely to lose their employer-provided health insurance, no wage bracket or educational level is untouched by the steady drive to push workers out of costly plans to fend for themselves.
Employment-based coverage remains the most prominent form of health insurance in the United States at 62.9 percent of the under-65 population. But the rate of this type of coverage has fallen every year since 2000, said the report, “The Erosion of Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance,” released Oct. 9.
The decline in family insurance has left over 3.4 million fewer children covered in 2007 than in 2000. Publicly-provided health insurance programs like Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Coverage Program has increased but many children are still uninsured.
“It is only the strength of government programs, particularly those aimed at children, that has insulated many from losses in coverage,” said EPI economist Elise Gould. “The trends indicate a significant shift from private to public coverage, especially among children.”
In 2007 Sen. McCain (R- Ariz.) and President Bush opposed expanding SCHIP. McCain voted against the bill passed by Congress to expand coverage for children, and President Bush vetoed it when it reached his desk.
Under McCain’s health care proposal, millions more workers could lose their employer-sponsored coverage. Newsweek economics correspondent Jane Bryant Quinn points out that if McCain’s health care plan was put into effect, it would drop 20 million people from employer coverage. His plan would also require workers to pay taxes on their employer-provided health insurance.
As president, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) would give more people access to affordable, high-quality coverage. His plan does not tax health care benefits, cuts costs for families and allows workers to maintain their employer-provided coverage.
Photo used under a Creative Commons license from Flickr user takomabibelot.
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