Workers: Uninsured and At Risk

In a study a few years ago, The Commonwealth Fund put words to a truth every employer and employee knows intuitively: “Employer-sponsored insurance coverage forms the backbone of the U.S. system of health insurance.”

The majority of insured Americans rely on their workplace for that insurance.

Despite that fact, a staggering number of employees in the workforce remain unemployed. As of last year, a total of 28 million Americans were living without insurance.

The kicker? The vast majority of those uninsured Americans are either wage earners or in a family with at least one wage earner.

This is a problem that is impacting businesses at all levels.

Under the Affordable Care Act, all businesses with over 50 full time employees are required to offer health benefit options to their employees.

However, studies show that even in big companies that are ACA compliant, a lot of workers are choosing not to be insured. A few years after the act took effect, Forbes summarized: “The truth is nearly half of the nation’s nearly 28 million uninsured workers are employed by the very firms mandated to provide health coverage.”

The most prohibitive obstacle between employees and healthcare? Cost.

The Kaiser Family Foundation reports: “Even under the ACA, many uninsured people cite the high cost of insurance as the main reason they lack coverage.

In 2016, 45% of uninsured adults said that they remained uninsured because the cost of coverage was too high.”

To break those numbers down further, this is true for employees in jobs with benefit options, but even more so for employees of small businesses that don’t offer insurance at all.

74% of uninsured workers don’t have the option of healthcare through their work at all. If they do have the option of healthcare through their work but declined it, there’s a 90% chance that was because of cost. 

 

The New York Times published a story supporting that same truth. Although many employers are offering the healthcare, employees just aren’t biting--especially if they’re in a lower wage industry.

The service industry and agricultural jobs are particularly at risk, but no field is immune. This problem has been a major fueling factor in the ongoing debate about expanding Medicaid.

So how do you make sure your employees don’t become part of these statistics? How do you lower your health care expenditure costs for savings you can extend to your workforce?

That is exactly the problem Captiva can solve for you. By refocusing the model on high-value primary care, a proactive pharmacy approach, transparent pricing and common sense planning, Captiva can help bring healthcare within reach for you and your employees.

Contact us to find out how to get started.

Workers: Uninsured and At Risk is available on: https://captivabenefitsolutions.com