Factors Impacting Health Care Benefits

According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), 67% of employed individuals have health benefits, usually via an employer-based health plan, compared to 35% of nonemployed individuals, who likely receive coverage from the plan of a spouse or parent.

In addition, the report found that 71.7% of individuals in families headed by a full year, full-time employee had employer-based health benefits, roughly twice as many as those in families headed by part time, part-year workers.

Those employed in the public sector and in manufacturing were more likely to be have employment-based benefits in their own name.

In addition, around 20% of self-employed workers and 23.5% of private-sector workers in firms with fewer than 10 employees had employed-based benefits in their own name. This is compared with 62.1% of private-sector workers in firms with 1,000 or more employees.

The report suggests more than 63% of managerial and professional occupations had benefits in their own name, compared with 30.7% among those is service occupations. Also, 63.3% of those employed full-time and for the full year had benefits, compared with 20.2% among those working part-time and for the full year. And finally, the figures for those possessing benefits for those who worked full-time but only part of the year was 35.2%, with those working part-time and only part of the year at 10.7%.

The data used in this report came from employees surveyed in 2012.

More information about this topic appears in the September issue of EBRI Issue Brief under the title “Sources of Health Insurance and Characteristics of the Uninsured.” It can be found on the ERBI’s website.