Employment-Based Health Benefits: Trends and Outlook
24 Pages Posted: 16 May 2001
Abstract
This Issue Brief discusses recent trends in and the future of employment-based health insurance benefits. The paper explores recent trends in the percentage of the population with and without health benefits, the make-up of the benefits package, and retiree health benefits. The paper finds that despite rising health insurance costs, employers increasingly have been offering health benefits to workers, and the percentage covered by employment-based health benefits has been increasing. Also, while health insurance cost inflation has been increasing, the proportion of the premium paid by employees has not been increasing, and the benefits package has been improving. Retiree health benefits, however, have seen changes in which retirees are asked to pay a greater share of the cost of coverage. The paper also examines the drivers of these trends, such as health benefit cost increases and labor market conditions and discusses the outlook for health benefits, in light of the slowing economy, the enduring problem of uninsurance, impending public policy changes, and the emergence of defined contribution health benefits.
The document has 2 tables and 23 charts.
Keywords: Employment-based benefits, Health care costs, Health care policy, Health insurance coverage, Retiree health benefits, Uninsured
JEL Classification: J32
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation