Ins. Report Raises Questions | Fewer employees are getting coverage from their employers
It sounds like a contradiction, but according to a July report from the state Division of Health Care Finance and Policy (DHCFP), more employers are offering health insurance to employees in Massachusetts, but fewer workers are getting insurance from their employers.
Richard Lord, president of the Associated Industries of Massachusetts, which studied the DHCFP report, said the first part of the equation — that more businesses are offering insurance — is not a surprise.
“For employers to be attractive, to be able to hire workers, they have to offer a competitive health insurance plan,” he said.
According to the report, which was based on a survey of more than 700 businesses, 77 percent of employers reported offering health insurance to employees, an increase from 76 percent the year before, and up from 69 percent in 2001. The increase is also likely a result of the Massachusetts Health Care Reform law passed in 2007 that required all businesses above a certain size to offer employees health insurance or pay a penalty.
The other side of the equation — that fewer employees are getting health insurance from their employer — is slightly more perplexing, Lord said.
Last year, employers reported that 75 percent of their employees enrolled in their company’s health insurance plan, compared to 80 percent the year before. The figure is down from 85 percent in 2003.
“It certainly begs the question, ‘Where did these people go?’” Lord said.
Statistical Significance
Not everyone is buying into the results of the survey.
Officials at Worcester-based Fallon Community Health Plan said they have not seen the trends outlined by the report in either their customers or as an employer.
The changes in the numbers, especially for the increase in the percentage of businesses offering health insurance, are small enough that it’s difficult to make a generalization, pointed out Janis Liepins, vice president of marketing for FCHP.
State officials aren’t jumping to conclusions either.
Seena Carrington, acting commissioner at the DHCFP, agreed that the margin of error on the survey makes it difficult to call the numbers a trend. But the employer survey is not the only study that suggests this pattern, she noted.
The division conducts an annual health insurance report based on a household survey of Bay State residents, which found similar results. That report found that the percent of residents who said they secured health care coverage from their place of work dropped from 67 percent in 2009 to 65.1 percent last year.
At the same time, as fewer residents reported enrolling in their businesses insurance plan, there was an increase in public insurance program enrollments.
There could be a number of factors contributing to the changes in the numbers, suggested Thomas Connors, a senior vice president of employee benefits with The Protector Group in Worcester.
The relatively high unemployment rate both in the state and the nation could explain the increased use of public insurance programs by residents. Connors said it’s possible there are some people skirting the system, staying on public plans even if they can get health insurance from other means.
“In this economy, a lot of people are doing things to save a couple of bucks, and it’s difficult for regulators to check up on all of them,” Connors said.
There could be other factors at play as well, he suggested. New federal laws allow children under the age of 26 to remain on their parent’s health care plan, so young workers who may be offered health insurance from their employers may be opting to stay on mom and pop’s plan to get a cheaper rate.
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