Title: Views on Employment-Based Health Benefits: Findings from the 2013 Health and Voluntary Workplace Benefits Survey
Abstract: This paper examines public opinion surrounding employment-based health coverage. It uses data from the 2013 Health and Voluntary Workplace Benefits Survey (WBS), conducted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) and Greenwald & Associates, as well as historical data from the Health Confidence Survey (HCS). Both surveys examine a broad spectrum of health care issues, including workers’ satisfaction with health care today, their confidence in the future of the nation’s health care system and the Medicare program, as well as their attitudes toward workplace benefits. Enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA) has raised questions about whether employers will continue to offer health coverage to their workers in the future. Yet, the importance of benefits in choosing a job remains high, and health insurance in particular continues to be, by far, the most important employee benefit to workers. Most workers are satisfied with the health benefits they have now and express little interest in changing the current mix of benefits and wages offered by their employers. Three-quarters (74 percent) report that they are satisfied with the health benefits they currently receive, while 12 percent say they would trade wages to get more health benefits, and 14 percent say they would surrender some health benefits for higher wages. Fewer workers reported being satisfied with the mix of health benefits and wages when the same question was asked in 2004, although the percentage satisfied with the current mix is unchanged from 2012. If current tax preferences for employment-based health benefits were to change, and the benefits were to become taxable, 39 percent of individuals say they would continue with their current level of coverage, virtually unchanged from 40 percent in 2012 but up from 31 percent who indicated that preference in 2011. Despite expressing a desire for more choice of health plans, individuals are not highly comfortable that they could use an objective rating system, such as that provided by the health insurance exchanges, to choose health insurance, nor are they extremely confident that a rating system could help them choose the best health insurance.The PDF for the above title, published in the December 2013 issue of EBRI Notes, also contains the full text of another December 2013 EBRI Notes article abstracted on SSRN: “How Much Would it Take? Achieving Retirement Income Equivalency between Final-Average-Pay Defined Benefit Plan Accruals and Voluntary Enrollment 401(k) Plans in the Private Sector.”
Publication Year: 2013
Publication Date: 2013-12-01
Language: en
Type: article
Access and Citation
AI Researcher Chatbot
Get quick answers to your questions about the article from our AI researcher chatbot