October 30th, 2009

Reports the Pennsylvania Budget & Policy Center:

Employers provided health insurance to 694,471 fewer Pennsylvanians in 2007 and 2008 than at the start of the decade, according to a new report analyzing U.S. Census data.

The Economic Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., and the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center in Harrisburg jointly released the study, which found that Pennsylvania outstripped every state in the nation except Michigan in the loss of employer-sponsored health care between 2000-01 and 2007-08.

The report analyzed U.S. Census Bureau data from 2000 to 2008. State-level data are averaged over two years to reduce sampling error.

Nationally, the percentage of Americans under age 65 covered by an employer policy fell in each of the past eight years, going from 68.3% in 2000 to 61.9% in 2008. That amounts to 17 million fewer Americans insured by an employer policy today.

The number of Pennsylvania workers and their dependents with employment-based health insurance fell from 7,929,984 in 2000-01 to 7,235,512 in 2007-08 – a decline of 694,471. The rate of employer coverage in the commonwealth dropped from 75.9% in 2000-01 to 69.7% in 2007-08 – outstripping the national average decline during that period.

Find out more at the PBPC.