Question

Hello, please assist with the following:

Choose one of the health reform topics linked at The Kaiser Family Foundation at kff.org and describe its impact on who gets to have insurance and who doesn't in two pages.

Answer 1

Benchmark Employer Survey Finds Average Family Premiums Now Top $20,000

Amid Affordability Challenges, Workers at Lower-Wage Employers are Nearly Half as Likely as Other Workers to be Covered by Their Employer

Average Annual Deductibles Now at $1,655, Double the Average of a Decade Ago

Annual family premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance rose 5% to average $20,576 lation rose 2% over the same period.

On average, workers this year are contributing $6,015 toward the cost of family coverage, with employers paying the rest.

Despite the nation’s strong economy and low unemployment, what employers and workers pay toward premiums continues to rise more quickly than workers’ wages and inflation over time. Since 2009, average family premiums have increased 54% and workers’ contribution have increased 71%, several times more quickly than wages (26%) and inflation (20%).

Currently 82% of covered workers have a deductible in their plan, similar to last year and up from 63% a decade ago. The average single deductible now stands at $1,655 for workers who have one, similar to last year’s $1,573 average but up sharply from the $826 average of a decade ago. These two trends result in a 162% total increase in the burden of deductibles across all covered workers over the past decade.

More than a quarter (28%) of all covered workers, including nearly half (45%) of those at small employers with fewer than 200 employees, are now in plans with a deductible of at least $2,000, almost four times the share who faced such deductibles in 2009. One in eight (13%) now face deductibles of at least $3,000.

“The single biggest issue in health care for most Americans is that their health costs are growing much faster than their wages are,” KFF President and CEO Drew Altman said. “Costs are prohibitive when workers making $25,000 a year have to shell out $7,000 a year just for their share of family premiums.”

About 153 million Americans rely on employer-sponsored coverage, and the 21st annual survey of more than 2,000 small and large employers provides a detailed picture of the trends affecting it. In addition to the full report and summary of findings released today, the journal Health Affairs is publishing an article online with select findings. The article, “Health Benefits in 2019: Premiums Inch Higher, Employers Respond to Federal Policy,” will also appear in its October issue.

Among firms offering coverage, employers with many lower-wage workers (earning $25,000 or less a year) offer health benefits to a smaller share of their workforce and require workers to pay a higher share of premiums than other employers. Specifically:

• Among firms that offer health benefits, two-thirds (66%) of workers at lower-wage firms are eligible for health benefits, significantly less than the share (81%) eligible at other firms.
• Family premiums at firms with many lower-wage workers average $17,633, 15% less than the average at other firms. At the same time, workers covered by lower-wage firms have an annual family contribution of $7,047. Workers at other firms contribute an average of $5,968 annually.

One result is that fewer workers at lower-wage firms take up their employer’s health benefits when offered. The net effect is that one in three (33%) workers at lower-wage firms offering health benefits are covered by their employer’s health benefits, well below the 63% share at other offering firms.

How does lack of insurance affect access to care?

• Health insurance makes a difference in whether and when people get necessary medical care, where they get their care, and ultimately, how healthy they are.

• Uninsured people are far more likely than those with insurance to postpone health care or forgo it altogether.

The consequences can be severe, particularly when preventable conditions or chronic diseases go undetected.