Health

Most Americans who have health insurance still get it through their jobs, but employment-based health coverage continues to decline, according to a new report from EBRI. While employment-based health coverage is still the dominant source of health insurance in the United States, it has been steadily shrinking since 1994. EBRI Issue Brief Sep 26, 2011 36 pages

EBRI Blog Aug 8, 2011

A new analysis from EBRI finds that workers may prefer to enter insurance exchanges over keeping employment-based health coverage if the tax treatment for health benefits through work is eliminated or significantly cut back as part of the federal debt-reduction effort. EBRI Issue Brief Jul 7, 2011 24 pages

In yet another measure of damage from the recent economic recession, new data from EBRI show that 2009 marked both the sharpest one-year decline in employment-based health coverage for working-age Americans, and also the first time in recent history that less than 60 percent of individuals under age 65 had health benefits through their job. EBRI Issue Brief Apr 27, 2011 20 pages

The number of health savings accounts (HSAs) and health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs) increased to 5.7 million in 2010, according to a new report by EBRI. Assets in these account-based health plans increased to $7.7 billion in 2010. EBRI Issue Brief Jan 11, 2011 28 pages

The ranks of people enrolled in either a consumer-driven health plan (CDHP) or a high-deductible health plan (HDHP) reached 22 million in 2010, according to a new report by EBRI. Participation in these account-based health care plans is low, but continues to grow, EBRI finds in its sixth annual Consumer Engagement in Health Care Survey. EBRI Issue Brief Dec 2, 2010 44 pages

Even though the new health reform law will reduce some health costs in retirement for many people, retirees will still need a significant amount of savings to cover their out-of-pocket health expenses when they retire, according to a new report by EBRI. For instance, EBRI finds that men retiring in this year (2010) at age 65 will need anywhere from $65,000–$109,000 in savings to cover health insurance premiums and out-of-pocket expenses in retirement if they want a 50–50 chance of being able to have enough money; to improve the odds to 90 percent, they’ll need between $124,000–$211,000. Women in particular will need more savings than men because they tend to live longer. EBRI Issue Brief Dec 1, 2010 16 pages

EBRI’s calculations from recently released data from the U.S. Census Bureau show that employment-based coverage remains the dominant source of health insurance, but continues to erode, declining by more than 2 percentage points last year. Overall, the percentage of individuals under age 65 with employment-based coverage declined from 61.1 percent in 2008 to 59 percent in 2009—its lowest level in the 15-year period between 1994 and 2009. EBRI Issue Brief Sep 22, 2010 40 pages

This report by EBRI provides a detailed summary of what is known about consumer-driven health plans, a relatively new option for paying for medical expenses that first began to appear nearly a decade ago. Consumer-driven health plans (CDHPs) consist of both health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs) and health savings accounts (HSAs). The EBRI report examines trends in offer rates and enrollment, differences in premiums between CDHPs and other types of insurance, and discusses the drivers of the premium differences. EBRI Issue Brief Aug 4, 2010 28 pages

Assets in health savings accounts (HSAs) and health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs), two relatively new employment-based health benefit plan options , have grown in recent years and totaled $7.1 billion in 2009, up from $835.4 million three years earlier, according to a study by the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI). In addition, the number of accounts in these plans, collectively known as consumer-driven health plans (CDHPs), also was up during the same period—totaling 5 million in 2009, up from 1.2 million in 2006. EBRI Issue Brief Jun 1, 2010 32 pages