Overview
Most people who have health coverage in this country are enrolled in private health insurance. The majority of these people get this coverage through their employer, but some have to buy coverage on their own in the individual market.
Unfortunately, there are serious (and growing) problems with private insurance. Prices are spiraling upwards, leading employers to raise the share paid by workers, cut back on benefits, or drop coverage altogether. Those who lose or don't have access to coverage through their jobs often find that buying insurance on their own in the individual market is expensive, and many have trouble finding anyone willing to sell them a policy at all. As people lose coverage at work and find they cannot afford to buy a policy on their own, more and more Americans become uninsured.
This part of our Web site will keep you up-to-date on what's happening in the private heath insurance arena. We'll give you "The Facts" so you'll be able to follow the latest trends in the private market. Under "Bad Ideas," you'll learn why some proposals move us in the wrong the direction. Under "Good Ideas," we'll highlight positive approaches that would improve the private market and provide health insurance for more uninsured Americans.
We hope you find this information useful. If you have any comments or suggestions, we'd love to hear from you. You can e-mail us at privateinsurance@familiesusa.org.
Also, if you or someone you know has had problems getting, keeping, or paying for insurance in the private market, we invite you to share that story with others by participating in the Families USA storybank. Reporters and policymakers find the stories useful to better illustrate the everyday struggles that Americans face concerning their health care. We obtain permission from each consumer before releasing his/her story.
What's New
From Families USA:
Reinsurance: A Primer aims to help policymakers and advocates better understand what reinsurance is and how it can make coverage easier to obtain and more affordable. It also identifies some of the benefits of reinsurance to aid lawmakers as they design reinsurance programs to meet the needs of their states. (April 2008)
From The Employee Benefit Research Institute:
Findings from the 2007 EBRI/Commonwealth Fund Consumerism in Health Survey presents information about the growth of account-based and high-deductible health plans and their impact on the behavior and attitudes of consumers. It provides statistics on the numbers of adults enrolled in consumer-driven health plans, their incomes, health status, and satisfaction rates, the rates at which they actually use their plans, and whether these plans have had an impact on the numbers of uninsured. (March 2008)
ERISA Pre-emption: Implications for Health Reform and Coverage provides an overview of state and local attempts at comprehensive health insurance reform and finds that ERISA limits states’ ability to carry out these reforms. For example, ERISA prevents states from establishing minimum levels of coverage for employer-based plans and limits their ability to fund health insurance subsidies for low-income adults through a tax. (February 2008)
From the Kaiser Family Foundation:
Employer Health Insurance Costs and Worker Compensation analyzes what it costs employers to provide health insurance and the rate at which these costs are growing. Employers’ costs as a percentage of payroll vary across work settings, which makes it challenging for policymakers to establish equitable standards. The report also notes that employees are suffering: Insurance premiums have risen by 78 percent over the last six years while wages have risen by only 19 percent. (March 2008)
How Non-Group Health Coverage Varies with Income examines how often people at different income levels buy individual health coverage when they cannot obtain coverage through their jobs or through public programs. It found that few people at lower incomes buy individual coverage and that, as income increases, coverage rates increase as well. (February 2008)
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