The Prevalence of Healthcare Benefit Plans

The following list supplies recent data on the incidence of employer-sponsored healthcare plans.2 According to the most recent census report (for the year 2011, which was published in September 2012), out of 312,250,315 total United States citizens,
2 “Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2011,” www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/income_wealth/cb12-172.html; also “Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2010,” www.census.gov/prod/2011pubs/p60-239.pdf (September 2011).

• The number of people with health insurance increased to 260.2 million (84.3%) in 2011, compared to 256.6 million (83.7%) in 2010.
• The percentage of people covered by private health insurance in 2011 was statistically unchanged compared to 2010 (63.9%). This is the first time in the past decade that this rate has not decreased.
• The percentage of people covered by employment-based health insurance in 2011 was also unchanged compared to 2010, remaining at 55.1%.
• The percentage of people covered by government health insurance increased from 31.2% to 32.2%.
• The percentage of people covered by Medicaid—the federal healthcare program for families and individuals with low income—increased, from 15.8% in 2010 to 16.5% in 2011. For Medicare—the federal healthcare program for the elderly—the percentage increased from 14.2% to 15.2%.
• In 2011, 9.7% of children under the age of 19 (7.6 million) were without health insurance, statistically unchanged from the 2010 estimate. Similarly, those aged 26 to 34, and those aged 45 to 64, remained roughly the same. The percentage declined, however, for people aged 19 to 25, 35 to 44, and those aged 65 and older.
• In 2011, the uninsured rates decreased as household income increased—from 25.4% for households with an annual income below $25,000, to 7.8% in households with an annual income of $75,000 or more.
  Figure 2.1 shows another set of data on the prevalence of healthcare plans from the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research & Educational Trust 2012 report.

*Estimate is statistically different from estimate for the previous year shown (p<.05).
Note: As noted in the Survey Design and Methods section, estimates presented in this exhibit are based on the sample of both firms that completed the entire survey and those that answered just one question about whether they offer health benefits.
Source: Kaiser/HRET Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Benefits, 1999-2012
Percentage of firms offering health benefits, 1999–2012