Summary
This EBRI Notes article examines 1996-2015 trends in self-insured health plans among private-sector establishments offering health plans and among their covered workers, with a particular focus on 2013 to 2015, so as to assess whether the Affordable Care Act (ACA) might have affected these trends. The data come from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Insurance Component (MEPS-IC).
Here are the key findings:
- The percentage of private-sector establishments offering health plans at least one of which is self-insured has increased from 28.5 percent in 1996 to 39 percent in 2015 (36.8 percent increase).
- Between 2013 and 2015, the percentages of establishments offering health plans with at least one self-insured plan has increased for midsized establishments from 25.3 percent to 30.1 percent (a 19 percent increase); for small establishments from 13.3 percent to 14.2 percent (a 7 percent increase); and has decreased from 83.9 percent to 80.4 percent for large establishments (a 4 percent decrease).
- Similarly, the percentage of health-plan-covered workers enrolled in self-insured health plans has increased from 58.2 percent to 60 percent (a 3 percent increase) from 2013 to 2015. The largest increases in self-insured plan coverage among covered workers have occurred in establishments with 25-99 employees and with 100-999 employees.