Studies Find Drop in Employee Health Insurance in California

CAL/AAEM News Service calaaem_news at yahoo.com
Tue Jul 31 17:08:47 PDT 2007


Studies Find Drop in Employee Health Insurance in California
 
Source: California Healthline (http://www.californiahealthline.org)
Date: July 11, 2007


New research to be released on Wednesday underscores the challenges that Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger (R) and state lawmakers are facing as they seek to rework California's
health care system, the Los Angeles Times reports. 

UCLA's Center for Health Policy Research is set to release a study indicating a drop in
employer-sponsored coverage in California, while research from the San Diego-based Center
on Policy Initiatives puts the number of workers in California not receiving coverage
through their jobs at more than eight million.

Further details are provided below.

UCLA 
The percentage of Californians with employer-sponsored health care coverage declined from
2001 to 2005, according to a study to be released Wednesday by the UCLA Center for Health
Policy Research. 

The study found that: 

The rate of employer-based coverage dropped from 56.4% in 2001 to 54.3% in 2005; 
80% of workers without such coverage either worked for employers that did not offer it or
were ineligible to receive the benefit; and 
20% of workers turned down coverage, with most of them citing high costs.

The report also found a 66% increase in premiums for family coverage through
employer-sponsored plans from 2001 to 2005. 

Although fewer state residents receive employer-based coverage, the authors found that
the proportion of uninsured Californians declined from 21.9% in 2001 to 20% in 2005. 

The study attributes the decline to enrollment increases in Medi-Cal, Healthy Families
and county-based programs. About one in three California children are insured through
these government programs, according to the Times. 

The report also found that: 
63% of uninsured Californians were U.S. citizens; 
15% were noncitizens with green cards; and 
22% were undocumented immigrants (Engel, Los Angeles Times, 7/11).

Center on Policy Initiatives 
About 8.7 million of California's 17.3 million working adults do not have
employer-sponsored health care coverage, and 2.9 million of those do not have any
insurance, according to a report to be released Wednesday by the Center on Policy
Initiatives. 

In addition, the study found that people working in higher-wage industries are more
likely to have employer-based health insurance coverage than workers in lower-wage fields
(Darcé, San Diego Union-Tribune, 7/11).

For example, 73.7% of public administration employees -- including federal and state
workers -- are covered by employer-sponsored plans, compared with about 20% of hotel and
food workers who have job-based coverage (Colliver, San Francisco Chronicle, 7/11).

The authors of the study said the results demonstrate that more lower-wage workers seek
coverage through a dependent or the government, or do not obtain coverage. 

The study concluded, "State legislation seeking to bring health coverage to more of the
uninsured must require an equitable contribution from employers." 

The authors, however, did not endorse a specific health care reform proposal (San Diego
Union-Tribune, 7/11).


For more information, please visit:
http://www.californiahealthline.org/articles/2007/7/11/Studies-Find-Drop-in-Employee-Health-Insurance-in-California.aspx



Cyrus Shahpar & Brian Potts 
Managing Editors, CAL/AAEM News Service
University of California, Irvine

The CAL/AAEM Archives are available at: http://maillists.uci.edu/mailman/public/calaaem/



      ____________________________________________________________________________________
Park yourself in front of a world of choices in alternative vehicles. Visit the Yahoo! Auto Green Center.
http://autos.yahoo.com/green_center/ 


More information about the CALAAEM mailing list