NIHCM Data Brief on Trends in Employer-Sponsored Insurance

Recent accounts of employers dropping health coverage, restricting eligibility for spouses, turning to plans with narrower networks and greater cost sharing, and restructuring workforces are often framed as side effects of the ACA. But many of these cost-cutting trends began long before health reform. This data brief from the National Institute of Health Care Management offers a comprehensive look at how employer-sponsored insurance has been changing and how provisions of the ACA and other dynamics might affect this market. Topics include:

• the decline in rates of employers offering health insurance, particularly for smaller firms with lower-wage workers
• projections of the ACA’s impact on employer-sponsored coverage and part-time workers
• the ongoing movement to greater employee cost sharing and shift into high deductible plans
• growing employer reliance on workforce wellness programs and interest in defined contributions and private exchanges
• the emerging focus on promoting value through reference pricing, high performance networks and transparency
• the trend toward self-insurance among smaller firms