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Variation in Public Opinion on the Future of Employment-Based Health Benefits: Findings From the 2011 Health Confidence Survey

This paper examines current public opinion surrounding the future of employment-based health coverage and how it varies by demographics, health status, and selected questions on satisfaction with health care and ratings of the health care system in the United States. The public is in large part confident that employers and unions will continue to offer health coverage following enactment of the federal health reform law. In 2011, 57 percent of individuals with employment-based coverage were extremely or very confident that their employer or union would continue to offer health coverage. However, they are not confident that they could afford to purchase coverage on their own even if they were given the money by plan sponsors. In 2011, 20 percent were extremely or very confident that they could afford to purchase coverage. When it comes to picking a health plan, the majority of the population is very or somewhat confident in their ability to compare different plan options and choose the best plan, while nearly 1 in 5 are extremely confident or not confident that they could compare different plans and choose the best plan. Individuals who are most confident in the future availability of employment-based health benefits and in their ability to afford and choose the best plan are those who are more educated, have higher income, are more satisfied with their health coverage, and rate the U.S. health care system higher. Despite the low confidence levels that they could afford to purchase coverage, very few individuals reported that they are not likely to purchase coverage if employers and unions stopped offering it. The data come from the EBRI/MGA 2011 Health Confidence Survey (HCS), which examines a broad spectrum of health care issues, including Americans’ satisfaction with health care today, their confidence in the future of the health care system and the Medicare program, and their attitudes toward health care reform. The PDF for the above title, published in the December 2011 issue of EBRI Notes, also contains the fulltext of another December 2011 EBRI Notes article abstracted on SSRN: “Retirement Age Expectations of Older Americans Between 2006 and 2010.”