Employer-sponsored health insurance hits new low

Gallup predicts that number will also continue to increase, as reform expands the Medicaid program in 2014 to cover more people, which will likely affect the total percentage of all adults who get their coverage through a government plan.

“Fewer Americans continue to have employer-based insurance than did so in 2008. This appears to be due to two factors: higher unemployment and fewer workers getting insurance through an employer, either because that employer no longer offers it or because the cost is prohibitive for the employee,” Gallup researchers note. “Americans are now more likely to be uninsured or to get their coverage through a government-based program.”

Though the decline in employer-based coverage is apparent for those workers employed full time for an employer or for themselves, the percentage of part-time workers who have employer-based insurance rose in 2012. Gallup notes this group of workers skews young, and young adults — many of whom are either likely still in college and thus can only work part time or are just entering the workforce and struggling to find a job — have become more likely to be insured since PPACA provision allowing those up to age 26 to stay on their parents’ plans went into effect.

Employer-based health insurance coverage rates have dropped among all major subgroups since 2008, declining the most for middle-income Americans and the least for seniors. Rates have been steadily trending down every year since 2008, Gallup says.

See also:

• Top 5 priorities for employer-sponsored health plans in 2013
• By the numbers: The health insurance market
• In a switch, GOP governors back expanding Medicaid