Rate of Work-Sponsored Insurance Coverage Increases Only Slightly in Past Year, Survey Finds
Average enrollment in employer-sponsored plans increased by just 0.2 percentage points between January 2013 and January 2014, while the average number of workers eligible for such coverage increased by 0.3 percentage points during the same period, according to a survey by benefits firm Mercer. The low eligibility growth rate could suggest that businesses opted to wait to expand their employee health plans, in part because the Affordable Care Act's employer mandate on businesses with 50 workers or more was delayed by one year, to 2015.
- "Employers See Negligible Increase in Workers Participating in Job-Based Coverage" (Appleby, "Capsules," Kaiser Health News, 3/12).