Summary
2015 EBRI/Greenwald & Associates Health and Voluntary Workplace Benefits Survey: Most Workers Continue to Give Low Ratings to Health Care System, but Declining Number Report Health Care Cost Increases
- The 2015 EBRI/Greenwald & Associates Health and Voluntary Workplace Benefits Survey (WBS) finds that when asked to rate the U.S. health care system, many workers describe it as poor (25 percent) or fair (30 percent). Only a small minority rate it as excellent (4 percent) or very good (13 percent). Dissatisfaction with the health care system appears to be focused primarily on cost.
- In contrast to the ratings for the health care system overall, workers’ ratings of their own health plans continue to be generally favorable. One-half of those with health insurance coverage are extremely or very satisfied. Only 9 percent are not satisfied with their current health plan.
- One-half of workers with health insurance coverage report having experienced an increase in health care costs in the past year, an historical low in the survey. The percentage reporting that they did not experience a change in health care costs increased from 36 percent to 47 percent between 2014 and 2015.
IRA Asset Allocation, 2013, and Longitudinal Results, 2010-2013
- The latest data from the EBRI IRA Database show that more than half of all IRA assets were allocated to equities, although this varied with age, account balance, and IRA type. Gender differences in asset allocations were minimal.
- Those older or owning a traditional IRA had, on average, lower allocations to equities. Individuals with the largest balances had the lowest combined exposure to equities (including the addition of the equity share of balanced funds to the pure equity funds).
- This study includes the first look at asset allocation longitudinally from 2010?2013 and finds that equity allocations in 2013 were higher than they were in 2010 and 2012. This result appears to be driven by the nearly 50 percent of accounts that remained at an extreme value (0 percent or 100 percent allocation) in both years and the higher probability of a positive change from 2010 to 2013 in the equity allocation.