Search is Powered by Google
Health Insurance / Medical Insurance News

Employer-Sponsored Health Coverage Decreasing Because Of High Costs, Study Says

Main Category: Health Insurance / Medical Insurance
Also Included In: Public Health
Article Date: 05 Nov 2007 - 3:00 PDT

email icon email to a friend   printer icon printer friendly   write icon view / write opinions   rate icon rate article
Current Article Ratings:

Patient / Public:not yet rated

Health Professional:not yet rated

Article Opinions: 0 posts

Fewer U.S. residents younger than age 65 had health insurance through an employer between 2005 and 2006 than between 2000 and 2001, largely because of cutbacks due to rising health care costs, according to a study released Wednesday by the Economic Policy Institute, the Newark Star-Ledger reports. From 2005 to 2006, 63.2% of U.S residents younger than 65 had employer-sponsored coverage, compared with 67.7% from 2000 to 2001 (Fitzgerald, Newark Star-Ledger, 11/1).

EPI economist Jacob Hacker said the decline stems from rising costs in a health care system "that is enormously wasteful, ill-targeted, inefficient and unfair." He added, "The best medical care is extremely good, but the Rube Goldberg system through which that care is financed is extremely bad -- and falling apart."

Elise Gould, another EPI economist, said, "The erosion of workers in the employer system into the public one in effect shifts the cost of employers insuring their workers onto taxpayers." Gould also said that "with the employer-based system clearly unraveling, it's critical that publicly provided coverage pick up the slack" (Thalman, Salt Lake City Deseret Morning News, 11/1).

Robert Meehan, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey vice president for consumer and senior markets, said the report "is not news, it's just more of the same" (Newark Star-Ledger, 11/1).

The report is available online.

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation© 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.




Customized Homepage Weekly Newsletters Daily News Alerts
Home About Us News Licensing Free Website Feeds Free Tools & Content Links Tell a Friend Accessibility Help / FAQ Article Submission Contact Us
Psychiatry Urology
Bipolar Diabetes Schizophrenia

customize your homepage

medical news gadget

Add to Google


developers
website gadget code
website news code
medical news rss feed links


MedReader RSS Reader

customize your homepage


What You Should Know About Childhood Immunizations
What You Should Know About Childhood Immunizations

Vaccines have helped bring a lot of terrible disease under control. But it's important to remember that they have not been eradicated, so without immunizations, these diseases could make a comeback. It's important to know what immunizations your baby needs, and when.

more videos are available in our health videos section.