Podcast Center
Video Center
Webcasts
Resource Center
Events
September 17, 2010 at 12:53 PM
New figures released in September by the Census Bureau show that enrollment in employer-sponsored health plans in 2009 was at its lowest level since 1997, after a dizzying drop.
Down 3.7% between 2008 and 2009, the number in 2009 was a bit below 170 million, as reported by NU Online News Service. It had not dropped below 170 million in 13 years; 1997 figures showed that 166 million people were covered by employers’ health insurance.
The percentage in the statistics provided by the Census Bureau stood at 55.8% in 2009; it had been 58.5% in 2008. When the Bureau began recording these statistics in 1987, the percentage stood at 62.1%. It stayed above 60% in most years until 2005, when a small drop was recorded. It has now been losing ground steadily at an accelerating rate. The only other year when the rate drop was so precipitous was 1991, when it hit 59.7%, down from 60.4%.
