Jan. 29, 2015: A new SHADAC report examining trends in employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) before and after the Great Recession has found declines in the availability of ESI and the share of private sector workers covered by their employers since the economic downturn. This compares to a period of relative stability in the years leading up to the recession.
From 2005 to 2009, the percentage of workers who had health insurance through their employers remained statistically steady. After the recession, this percentage dropped from 53.7 percent in 2009 to 49.7 percent in 2013. The number of employers offering insurance to their workers followed a similar trend, remaining stable from 2005 to 2009, then dropping from 55.7 percent in 2009 to 50.0 percent in 2013.
State variation
The report, “State-Level Trends in Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance: A State-by-State Analysis,” provides data for all 50 states and the District of Columbia, in addition to national-level data. While ESI varies across the states, the state-level trends largely mirrored national trends. For example, during the post-recession period when the percentage of U.S. employers offering coverage dropped to 50.0 percent, 35 states also experienced significant declines in the share of employers that offered coverage. (Trend information for individual states is available at www.shadac.org/ESIReport2015.)
Other key findings in the report include:
- Prior to the recession, employer coverage was stable but more workers were declining their employers’ offers of insurance. Nationally, the percentage of workers who took up employer-offered coverage fell from 79.7 percent in 2005 to 77.8 percent in 2009.
- Post-recession, workers’ take-up of coverage fell further to 75.3 percent in 2013, along with declines in employer offers of coverage (from 55.7 percent in 2009 to 50.0 percent in 2013) and the percentage of workers eligible to sign up for coverage (which fell from 78.8 % to 77.8 %).
- Costs of insurance premiums continue to rise. Nationally, the average annual premium for employee-only coverage increased from $3,848 in 2005 to $5,478 in 2013. Family premiums increased from $10,367 on average to $16,302 during the same time period.
The report’s authors note that when analyzing the impacts of the Affordable Care Act in future years, it will be important to consider other factors that affect employer coverage, such as the economy.
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