EBRI Data Sheds Light on Health, Retirement Issues

February 1, 2008 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Health and retirement issues are being raised as the 2008 election campaign heats up.

The Employee Benefit Research Institute has provided a series of questions and answers about major employee health and retirement benefits, along with hotlinks to relevant tables and charts.

Among the questions answered:

Q: Overall, what percentage of U.S. residents do not have health insurance?

United States were without health insurance.

Q: Do most of the uninsured live in families headed by a worker, or in a family headed by an unemployed individual?

Q: Are men or women more likely to be uninsured?

Q: What impact do immigrants have on the number of uninsured in the United States?

Q: What percentage of the nonelderly (under age 65) U.S. population have employment-based health insurance coverage?

Q: What are the trends in employment-based health coverage in the United States?

Q: What are the trends in public health coverage in the United States?

Since then, the percentage has remained fairly constant.

Q: Does the size of the employer have anything to do with workers' likelihood of having access to health care benefits?

A. Yes: The chance of having health care coverage goes up with the size of the firm.

Q: Does occupation influence the likelihood of having access to health benefits?

A. Yes: The uninsured are concentrated disproportionately in service-sector occupations or blue-collar jobs.

Q: Does income affect the likelihood of having access to health benefits?

Q: Do most of the uninsured live in families headed by a worker, or in a family headed by an unemployed individual?

Q: Are men or women more likely to be uninsured?

Q: What impact do immigrants have on the number of uninsured in the United States?

Q: What percentage of the nonelderly (under age 65) U.S. population have employment-based health insurance coverage?

Q: What are the trends in employment-based health coverage in the United States?

Q: What are the trends in public health coverage in the United States?

Since then, the percentage has remained fairly constant.

Q: Does the size of the employer have anything to do with workers' likelihood of having access to health care benefits?

A. Yes: The chance of having health care coverage goes up with the size of the firm.

Q: Does occupation influence the likelihood of having access to health benefits?

A. Yes: The uninsured are concentrated disproportionately in service-sector occupations or blue-collar jobs.

Q: Does income affect the likelihood of having access to health benefits?

Q: How many U.S. workers participate in an employment-based retirement plan?

Q: Among those most likely to be working, how many participate in any kind of employer- or union-sponsored retirement plan?

Q: Are men or women more likely to participate in a retirement plan?

Q: What are the recent trends in private-sector participation in defined benefit (pension) and defined contribution (401(k)-type) plans?

A. The share of workers participating only in a defined benefit ("traditional" pension) plan declined from 62% in 1980 to 10% in 2005. The share of workers participating only in a defined contribution (401(k)-type) plan increased from 22% in 1980 to 63% in 2005.

Q: How much money is in retirement plans and where are most of the assets held?

retirement income plans (both defined benefit and defined contribution) amounted to $14.388 trillion.

Q: How much do individuals need to save for retiree health care costs?

Q: How much do Americans say they have saved for retirement?

Q: How much do American workers think they need to save for retirement?

A. One-quarter of workers said they need to save less than $250,000, and another 2 in 10 mention a goal of $250,000 - $499,999.

Q: What is the average and median (half above, half below) account balance for 401(k) plan owners?


Expanded answers to these - and other - questions, as well as reports and charts, are online at http://www.ebri.org/campaign/

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