Two reports this week suggest countervailing trends for employer-sponsored health benefits: the erosion of the health benefit among companies, and opportunities for those progressive employers who choose to stay in the health benefit game.
In 2010, nearly 50% of workers under 65 years of age worked for firms that did not offer health benefits. The uber-trend, first, is that the percentage of workers covered by employer-sponsored health insurance has declined since 2002. Workers offered the option of buying into a health benefit, as well as the percent covered by a health plan, have both fallen, according to the Employee Benefits Research Institute (EBRI), an organization that has long-tracked this trend. EBRI’s report on Employment-Based Health Benefits: Trends in Access and Coverage, 1997-2010, provides the details behind this declining picture.