More Mass. companies offer insurance, but fewer take it
Compared to their national counterparts, more Massachusetts employers offer health insurance but fewer employees here enroll in the plans offered by their companies, according to a new state report.
Sixty-five percent of Massachusetts employers offered health insurance in 2016, compared to the national rate of 56 percent. The offer rate was 100 percent among employers with 100 or more workers and the rate was lowest -- 48 percent -- among companies with between three and nine employees, according to report by the Center for Health Information and Analysis, or CHIA.
The take-up rate, which measures the share of employees eligible for their employer's plan who chose to enroll in it, was 74 percent among Massachusetts employees. The national take-up rate was 79 percent last year.
Some employees enroll in the health plan offered by their spouse's employer, a tendency that can affect the overall take-up rate.
Because the survey was redesigned, year-over-year comparisons for some of the results are not available, a CHIA official said.
According to the report, which was released Thursday, large firms were twice as likely as small firms to offer high deductible health plans but enrollment in such plans was higher among employees working at small firms than large firms. High deductible plans often carry lower premium costs.
A CHIA official told the News Service that 4.15 million Massachusetts residents held their primary medical membership through a commercial payer. State officials are grappling with major policy and financial ramifications of surging enrollment in MassHealth, which is approaching 2 million members.
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