Summary
Satisfaction With Health Coverage and Care: Findings from the 2013 EBRI/Greenwald & Associates Consumer Engagement in Health Care Survey
- The overall satisfaction rate among consumer-driven health plan (CDHP) enrollees increased in most years of the EBRI/Greenwald & Associates Consumer Engagement in Health Care Survey (CEHCS), while it decreased in most years among traditional enrollees.
- Differences in out-of-pocket costs may explain some of the differences in overall satisfaction rates. In 2013, 44 percent of traditional-plan participants were extremely or very satisfied with out-of-pocket costs (for health care services other than for prescription drugs), while 20 percent of high-deductible health plan (HDHP) enrollees and 31 percent of CDHP participants were extremely or very satisfied. Satisfaction has been trending upward among CDHP enrollees.
- CDHP and HDHP enrollees were less likely than those in a traditional plan both to recommend their health plan to friends or co-workers and to stay with their current health plan if they had the opportunity to switch plans. The percentage of HDHP and CDHP enrollees reporting that they would be extremely or very likely to recommend their plan to friends or co-workers has been trending upward, while it has been flat among individuals with traditional coverage.
Contributory “Negligence?” The Impact of Future Contributions to Defined Contribution Plans on Retirement Income Adequacy for Gen Xers
- One of the major findings in each of the last five annual retirement income adequacy studies by EBRI was that the retirement income adequacy prospects for Gen Xers were approximately the same as Baby Boomers. However, recent studies by other organizations suggest Gen Xers will fare much worse than the Boomers. Unfortunately, these studies appear to be plagued by either explicitly ignoring future contributions to defined contribution plans or failing to account for the recent changes in many defined contribution plans to incorporate automatic enrollment features (including automatic escalation of contributions).
- Ignoring future contributions exaggerates the percentage of Gen-X workers simulated to run short of money in retirement by roughly 10 to 12 percentage points among all but the lowest-income group.