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Survey Finds Workers Wary About Shopping For Insurance

By  //  July 27, 2012

Healthcare Business News

EDITOR’S NOTE: In the wake of a Deloitte survey of large and medium sized employers released on Tuesday that showed 9% of those surveyed anticipate eliminating healthcare insurance benefits for employees within three years primarily because of prohibitive costs, another survey report entitled “Perceptions of Health Benefits in a Recovering Economy: A Survey of Employees,” was presented by the president and CEO of the National Business Group On Health, Helen Darling, to the National Press Club yesterday.

As reported in ModernHealthcare.com, the Survey of Employees found that one-third of employees are not confident in their ability to shop for any insurance on their own, and that 53% of workers lack confidence that they could buy comparable or better insurance than their employer has traditionally provided.

With the Deloitte survey of employers also showing that 10% of companies representing 13% of the workforce remain uncertain regarding their ability and inclination to continue employee health insurance coverage and the findings from the NBGH survey, clearly some stakeholders in the private sector appear to be apprehensive about the ultimate respective incentives and benefits the PPACA provisions provide employers to continue coverage, and the availability, sustainability and satisfaction that coverage outside the employer umbrella in the state exchanges would be afforded to employees.

MODERNHEALTHCARE.COM–Employer-sponsored health insurance coverage remains, by far, the most important benefit for workers at large companies and many worry they would not find comparable coverage through an exchange, a survey found.

The survey found that overall nearly two in three workers (63%) are very satisfied with their current health coverage provided by their employer or union.

The findings for the National Business Group on Health could have important implications for employers considering dropping their policies for workers once health insurance exchanges, or marketplaces, are operational in each state in 2014. The findings also could warn about how many people may participate or how effectively they may use the coming exchanges.

Even as premiums and out-of-pocket costs have increased during the past three years, 90% of employees’ satisfaction with their employer-provided insurance increased or remained the same over that time.

CLICK HERE to read the complete story in ModernHealthcare.com.