Don't believe the hype

A coworker asked me about the uninsured yesterday. (Actually, I think she's technically a superior, but that's beside the point.)

She wondered out loud about the 46 million uninsured in this country. I stopped her short, pointing out that the number itself is often a topic of heated debate. Who we define as uninsured, after all, is probably the most overlooked -- yet most critical -- part of the entire health care debate.

You certainly won't find that number debated in any mainstream media outlet. In fact, if one chugs the Kool-Aid of conventional wisdom, the number of sick, uninsured American workers is skyrocketing while health care fees continue to climb out of reach.

Let's look at the most recent Kaiser Family Foundation numbers regarding the uninsured, just for the sake of argument. According to their February study, 46.1 million non-elderly residents lacked insurance coverage in 2005. Yet the report's authors quickly point out that a quarter of that number are eligible for public assistance but fail to take advantage of it. So already that number drops to 34.5 million.

Another 19 percent -- according to the Kaiser numbers -- earn more than 300 percent of the federal poverty level, "where coverage is more likely to be affordable." The number, then, of genuinely uninsured plummets to slightly less than 26 million Americans.

Now, about those swelling masses of uninsured: According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute's latest figures, "the percentage of workers offered coverage and the percentage of workers taking coverage when offered have remained steady since as far back as the late 1980s."

In short, the study reveals, in 2005, slightly more than 63 percent of workers enjoyed an employment-based health plan from their own employer, while nearly 15 percent boasted coverage as a dependent. The uninsured hovered at 17 percent.

The bottom line is clear: "Employment-based health benefits are the most common form of health insurance for non-poor, non-elderly individuals and workers in the United States."

And they're not going anywhere, either, despite the scary headlines, doom-saying talking heads and the pandering politicians. Employer-sponsored health care is hardly endangered and far from extinct. And it helps to know all the facts when taking up the fight for them.

Denis Storey
Editor
dstorey@benefitssellingmag.com