Events
October 13, 2022
9:30 AM - 10:30 AM
The Future of Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance
When
October 13, 2022
9:30 AM - 10:30 AM
Where
American Trucking Association
430 First Street Southeast
Washington, DC 20003
Employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) has long been the most common source of health coverage in the United States and provides flexible, high-quality coverage for workers at a better value for taxpayers and the federal government than public alternatives. In 2021, 58 percent of all non-elderly Americans received health insurance through their employer, though in 2000, this number was nearly 70 percent.
Event Summary
Key topics:
- Downsides of decoupling insurance from employment:
- The value of the employer health coverage tax exclusion would be lost.
- It would reduce incentives to work.
- Employer-based insurance pools people together in a health plan for reasons other than health, which ensures diversity in the pool that spreads costs.
- Reasons for ESI’s popularity:
- Allows for individuals to pass complex decisions to a larger entity they trust.
- Employers can get better deals than individuals can.
- Employees like the benefits in their employer-sponsored plans.
- ESI plans can more quickly adapt (e.g., expanded telehealth coverage during the COVID-19 pandemic) than bureaucratic government plans.
- Opportunities for reform:
- Finding other ways to mimic how ESI plans work for those who fall outside the ESI system (e.g., contract workers).
- Creating more flexibility in benefits for employees and thus greater control over total compensation.
- Porting technological innovations, such as ensuring care compliance, between the prescription drug side of plans to the hospital and provider side.
Learn more about Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance:
When
October 13, 2022
9:30 AM - 10:30 AM
Where
American Trucking Association
430 First Street Southeast
Washington, DC 20003