Health Insurance Status of Full-Time Workers by Demographic and Employer Characteristics, 2008. Statistical Brief No. 317

摘要

Employer-sponsored private insurance has long been the primary source of health insurance coverage for non-elderly workers in the United States. Some workers who are not covered by employer-sponsored insurance (their own or a family members) obtain coverage through individually-purchased private insurance while some, who are eligible, obtain coverage through Medicaid or other public insurance programs. Other workers remain uninsured. This Statistical Brief examines the health insurance status of non-elderly adults who worked full time for the full year. Estimates of the health insurance status of full-time non-elderly workers in the U.S. civilian noninstitutionalized population are essential to policymakers and others concerned with the availability of insurance coverage for workers and their families. In addition to national averages, it is important to examine the substantial variation in workers insurance status by demographic characteristics including family income, race/ ethnicity, age, education, and job characteristics including the establishment size and industry of their employer. This Statistical Brief presents data from the Household Component of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS-HC) for 2008 on the percentage of full-time workers who had any private insurance during the year, had public insurance only, or who were uninsured for the entire year. Estimates are presented by subgroups of workers defined by demographic and job characteristics. All differences between estimates discussed in the text are statistically significant at the p less than 0.05 level, or better.