Decade of Decline: A Survey of Employer Health Insurance Coverage in New York State

Presents findings from a survey of New York-based firms on trends in employer-sponsored coverage during the recession, including offer rates, eligibility, take-up, and coverage rates; premiums; employer and employee costs; and support for reform measures

Retiree Health Benefits After Medicare Part D: A Snapshot of Prescription Drug Coverage

Based on employer surveys, assesses how the introduction of the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit affected employer-based retiree, drug, and other health coverage

The Commonwealth Fund/National Opinion Research Center Survey of Retiree Health Benefits, 2005: A Chartbook

Analyzes the state of retiree health benefits, based on a survey of public and private employers. Looks at the Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Benefit, Governmental Accounting Standards Board regulations, and past and future changes to retiree benefits

Small Employer Perspectives On The Affordable Care Act's Premiums, SHOP Exchanges, And Self-Insurance

Beginning January 1, 2014, small businesses having no more than fifty full-time-equivalent workers will be able to obtain healthinsurance for their employees through Small Business Health OptionsProgram (SHOP) exchanges in every state. Although the Affordable Care Act intended the exchanges to make the purchasing of insurance moreattractive and affordable to small businesses, it is not yet known how they will respond to the exchanges. Based on a telephone survey of 604 randomly selected private firms having 3 -- 50 employees, we found that both firms that offered health coverage and those that did not rated most features of SHOP exchanges highly but were also very price sensitive.More than 92 percent of nonoffering small firms said that if they were to offer coverage, it would be "very" or "somewhat" important to them that premium costs be less than they are today. Eighty percent of offering firms use brokers who commonly perform functions of benefit managers -- functions that the SHOP exchanges may assume. Twenty-six percent of firms using brokers reported discussing self-insuring with their brokers. An increase in the number of self-insured small employers could pose a threat to SHOP exchanges and other small-group insurance reforms

Health Insurance Reforms: How Will They Affect Employment-Based Coverage in California?

The objectives of this issue brief are: (1) to examine how insurance reforms required by the Affordable Care Act will affect benefit packages currently offered by California employers and (2) to estimate out-of-pocket expenses and actuarial values for households with employment-based health plans in California in 2010

National Health Reform Requirements and California Employers

This issue brief has identified how persons currently receiving health insurance from their employer will also be affected by reform. In most cases, reform will increase the amount of financial protection employees receive