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Joanne Wojcik

Employer health plan share falls for individuals: EBRI

November 3, 2009 - 12:55pm


Employees with individual coverage in consumer-driven health plans are seeing their employers' contributions decline, while those with family coverage are seeing their employers' contributions increase, according to a survey released Tuesday by the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

The survey by Washington-based EBRI also found that the percentage of employers making contributions to either health reimbursement arrangements or health savings accounts tied to CDHPs dropped from 67% last year to 63% this year.

Between 2006 and 2008, the percentage of workers with employee-only coverage whose employer contributed at least $1,000 to either their HRA or HSA increased from 26% to 37%; but in 2009, it fell to 32%. Meanwhile, the percentage of workers with individual coverage who received an employer contribution of less than $200 increased from 3% last year to 8% this year.

By contrast, the percentage of workers with family coverage who received a contribution of $1,000 or more increased from 59% last year to 73% this year. Nearly three-quarters of workers with family coverage in a CDHP now receive an annual employer contribution of $1,000 or more, EBRI estimates.

Among other findings in the survey:

  • The percentage of individuals remaining in CDHPs for three to four years increased from 9% in 2006 to 26% in 2009, and the percentage who remained in the plans for five years or more increased from 3% in 2006 to 9% in 2009.

  • The amount of money individuals have accumulated in their accounts has grown over time. Forty-seven percent had balances of at least $1,000 in 2009, compared with 43% in 2008, 44% in 2007 and 25% in 2006.

  • Only 4% of the adult U.S. population in 2009 are enrolled in CDHPs linked to HSAs or HRAs, up from 3% in 2008.

    The report, which presents findings from the 2008 and 2009 EBRI/MGA Consumer Engagement in Health Care Surveys and the 2006 and 2007 EBRI/Commonwealth Fund Consumerism in Health Care Surveys, was published in the November EBRI Notes and is available online at www.ebri.org.

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