Government
Employer health coverage continues to drop
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Nov. 2, 2009
The percentage of nonelderly Americans with employer-sponsored health insurance declined for the eighth straight year -- reaching 61.9% in 2008 compared with 62.9% in 2007, according to a new report.
Such coverage has decreased by 6.4 percentage points since 2000, or about 5 million people, according to the Economic Policy Institute, a think tank focusing on issues affecting low- and middle-income workers. The calculations are based on the March 2009 update of the U.S. Census Bureau's Current Population Survey.
New Mexico has the lowest employer coverage rate at 57.5%, followed by Texas at 61.9% and Alaska at 63.6%. Massachusetts and Hawaii top the list at 80.7% and 80.6%, respectively. The largest declines in employer-sponsored coverage for the nonelderly occurred in Michigan, Tennessee, Missouri, South Carolina and North Carolina. Each state experienced decreases of at least eight percentage points since 2000. No state had a statistically significant coverage increase since 2000.
The report can be accessed online (link).
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2009/11/02/gvbf1102.htm.
