Employers' views on incremental measures to expand health coverage

Health Affairs

Volumn 25, Issue 6, 2006, Pages 1668-1678

  Whitmore, Heidi ^a   Collins, Sara R ^b   Gabel, Jon ^c   Pickreign, Jeremy ^c  

^a CENTER FOR STUDYING HEALTH SYSTEM CHANGE   (United States)

^b Commonwealth Fund ^*  (United States)

^c HSC   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ADULT; ARTICLE; ATTITUDE TO HEALTH; COST; EPIDEMIOLOGY; FORECASTING; HEALTH INSURANCE; HUMAN; INDUSTRY; MIDDLE AGED; OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH; ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT; PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT; PRODUCTIVITY; STATISTICS; UNITED STATES;

ADULT; ATTITUDE TO HEALTH; COST SHARING; EFFICIENCY; FORECASTING; HEALTH BENEFIT PLANS, EMPLOYEE; HEALTH CARE SURVEYS; HUMANS; INDUSTRY; MIDDLE AGED; OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH; PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT; UNITED STATES;

EID: 33845313666     PISSN: 02782715     EISSN: 02782715     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.25.6.1668     Document Type: Article

References (11)

1. Congressional Budget Office, The Budget and Economic Outlook: An Update (Washington: CBO, August 2005), 11.
2. S.R. Collins et al., "Job-based Health Insurance in the Balance: Employer Views of Coverage in the Workplace," Issue Brief, March 2004, http://www.cmwf.org/publications/publications_show.htm?doc_id=221573 (accessed 14 August 2006).
3. This weight is calculated as the product of the inverse of the probability of an individual firm's appearing in the sample (the employer weight) and the number of employees that work at the firm.
4. We note that the question addresses a "principle" rather than an actual "government mandate." It is possible if the wording were changed so as to indicate the employer's views about a "government mandate," responses might be different.
5. Based on a survey of 180 companies, Charles D. Spencer and Associates found that only about one of every six people who were eligible for COBRA enrolled in the program but that claims expenses per COBRA enrollee are 50 percent greater than for the overall employee population. See USI Consulting Group, "COBRA Participation Declines," Benefits InfoSource (November 2002): 5. Employers may perceive that with greater subsidies, more former employees will take up COBRA, and the firm might realize greater absolute losses on COBRA.
6. Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation/Health Research and Educational Trust, Employer Health Benefits: 2006 Annual Survey, 26 September 2006, http://www.kff.org/insurance/7527/index.cfm (accessed 28 September 2006).
7. S.R. Collins, K. Davis, and A. Ho, "A Shared Responsibility: U.S. Employers and the Provision of Health Insurance to Employees," Inquiry 42, no. 1 (2005): 6-15.
8. J. Gabel et al., "Health Benefits in 2005: Premium Increases Slow Down, Coverage Continues to Erode," Health Affairs 24, no. 5 (2005): 1273-1280.
9. G. Claxton et al., Employer Health Benefits: 2005 Annual Survey, September 2005, http://www.kff.org/insurance/7315/index.cfm (accessed 14 August 2006).
10. P. Fronstin, "Sources of Health Insurance and Characteristics of the Uninsured: Analysis of the March 2005 Current Population Survey," Issue Brief no. 287 (Washington: Employee Benefit Research Institute, November 2005).
11. A.A. Gawande et al., "Does Dissatisfaction with Health Plans Stem from Having No Choices?" Health Affairs 17, no. 5 (1998): 184-194.