More employers dropping insurance: study

Rising premiums have driven a steady decline in employer-sponsored health insurance since 2000, according to a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation study released today.

In 2011, the number of Americans with employer-sponsored insurance stood at 159 million, a decline of 11.5 million from 2000. The 2011 figure represented 59.5% of the U.S. population, a drop of 10 percentage points from a decade earlier.

According to the report, 47 states had a statistically significant decline in employer-sponsored coverage from 2000-2011, with 22 states experiencing declines of at least 10 percentage points.

Michigan saw the biggest percentage drop—15.2 percentage points—over the period, while North Dakota saw the smallest drop, less than one percentage point.

“Employers continue to shoulder about the same percentage of costs for employees' health insurance as they did 10 years ago, but everyone's costs have increased dramatically,” RWJF President and CEO Risa Lavizzo-Mourey said in a written statement. “Higher costs naturally translate into fewer employers offering insurance coverage, and fewer employees accepting it, even when it is offered.”

Between 2000 and 2011, the average annual employee-only premium more than doubled to $5,081 from $2,490. And during that period, the amount employees contributed toward premiums also skyrocketed, to $1,056 from $435.

However, the one demographic that saw a rise in employer-sponsored coverage was adults between the ages of 19 and 25. That was attributed to a provision in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that allows this those under 26 to remain on their parents' insurance policy.

Separately, a report released Wednesday by International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans found that an increasing percentage of companies plan to continue sponsoring health benefits when the Affordable Care Act's state insurance exchanges open in 2014. In 2012, only 46% responded they definitely would continue to do so. This year, the figure rose to 69%.

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