The Current State of Employee Sponsored Healthcare

According to a survey by Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the number of offers for private health insurance has increased but due to strict eligibility rates the enrollment in the employer sponsored health insurance has gone down. The findings in the study further suggests that the primary reason for a decrease in enrollment might just not be the strict criteria but instead of the continuing trends in sharing healthcare with a spouse. Others factors that may contribute to the decrease in enrollment include the higher premiums, Medicaid expansion and an increase in inflation rates.

Firm Size: Large vs Small

The same study revealed the impact of offer according to a firm’s size. It found out that nearly 98 percent of people who are employed in a corporation with 50 or more workers are offered some type of health insurance by their company. The trend decreased significantly with the firm size. Only 64 percent of the small business, who employed 50 or less workers, offered health insurance to their workers. Small corporations point out that the workers have other means of getting health insurance therefore it financially is not a feasible venture to offer healthcare coverage. These trends in employer based health insurance program don’t necessarily mean that workers in large corporations are a happy lot.

It should be noticed that large companies do offer health insurance program but it is another issue if the workers are able to afford the expenses. In 2001, there were around 32 percent employees in US workforce that worked for corporation with more than 500 employers but remained uninsured. A study by Common Wealth Funds in Oct 2003 reveled that these uninsured workers remain without the insurance due to decline in manufacturing jobs and decreased power of Unions. It is now a common fact that the workers, both in small and large organizations are feeling the brunt of healthcare costs irrespective of their social status.

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3. Health Insurance Explained