Snapshots: Trends in Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance Offer Rates for Workers in Private Business
Snapshots: Trends in Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance Offer Rates for Workers in Private Businesses
Sep 13, 2010 | Gary Claxton and Anthony Damico (Kaiser Family Foundation)
Most Americans receive their health insurance through their own job or the job of a family member; an offer of coverage at work is an important determinant of the likelihood of having private health insurance. This analysis examines the percentage of nonelderly, full-time adult workers (age 18 through 64) in private firms who were offered health insurance at their current primary job and how that changed over the period from 1995 to 2005.
The condition of the national economy often has an effect on the offer rate among workers. From 1995 to 2005, gross domestic product expanded at a rate of 2.6% in 1995 and accelerated to 4.1% in 2000, but growth slowed markedly to 1.1% in 2001 and stood at 3.1% in 2005. As one might expect, the percentage of workers offered coverage at work rose similarly in the late 1990s and fell after 2000. The current economic slowdown has been particularly deep, with GDP flat in 2008 and shrinking 2.6% in 2009. Consequently, there is concern that the poor economic conditions of recent years have led not only to a loss of jobs but also to fewer workers being offered coverage at work and a reduction of employment-based coverage.
To assess the impact of the economic booms and busts on employer-sponsored coverage, we analyzed workers in private (non-government) businesses using data from the 1995, 2001 and 2005 February Contingent Worker Supplement of the Current Population Survey (CPS).1 Workers were considered full-time if they reported that they usually worked 35 or more hours per week at a primary job. Our analysis focused only on a worker’s main job; second workplaces were not examined.
Detailed data at -
http://kff.org/health-costs/issue-brief/snapshots-trends-in-employer-sponsored-health-insurance-offer-rates-for-workers-in-private-businesses/