Future Tense?

Americans have long had a beef of sorts with the U.S. health care system.

Asked to rate that system, a majority of workers describe it as poor (21 percent) or fair (34 percent), and while nearly a third consider it good, and less than half that many rate it as very good (12 percent) or excellent (2 percent), according to the 2013 Health and Voluntary Workplace Benefits Survey (WBS). Perhaps more significantly, the percentage of workers rating the health care system as poor doubled between 1998 and 2006, according to the 1998–2012 Health Confidence Survey (HCS).

On the other hand, workers’ ratings of their own health plans continue to be generally favorable. In fact, one-half (51 percent) of those with health insurance coverage are not just content with the coverage they have, they are extremely or very satisfied with it.

Satisfaction with health care quality continues to remain fairly high, with 50 percent of workers saying they are extremely or very satisfied with the quality of the medical care they have received in the past two years.

In fact, dissatisfaction with the health care system appears to be focused primarily on cost: Just 13 percent are extremely or very satisfied with the cost of their health insurance plans, and only 11 percent are satisfied with the costs of health care services not covered by insurance.

And, despite the ongoing (and frequently dramatic) news coverage of changes (current and contemplated) resulting from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), workers continue to be generally confident that their employers or unions will continue to offer health insurance. In 2013, 28 percent of workers report that they are extremely confident their employers or unions will continue to offer coverage, 37 percent are very confident, and 28 percent are somewhat confident.

On the other hand, confidence about the health care system decreases as workers look to the future. While 46 percent of workers indicate they are extremely or very confident about their ability to get the treatments they need today, just 28 percent are confident about their ability to get needed treatments during the next 10 years; and while 39 percent are confident they have enough choices about who provides their medical care today, fewer than-  1 in 4 are confident about this aspect of the health care system over the next 10 years.

Finally, 25 percent of workers say they are confident they are able to afford health care without financial hardship today, but this percentage decreases to 18 percent when they look out over the next decade.

Ultimately, the findings of the 2013 Health and Voluntary Workplace Benefits Survey provide not only valuable insights into how Americans view and value their health care now, but also a sense that the current comfort and confidence levels could be relatively short-lived.

- Nevin E. Adams, JD

“The 2013 Health and Voluntary Workplace Benefits Survey: Nearly 90% of Workers Satisfied With Their Own Health Plan, But 55% Give Low Ratings to Health Care System” is available online here.

“Wishful” Thinking?

Last week the Wall Street Journal reported that Sears and Darden Restaurants were planning a “radical change in the way they provide health benefits to their workers,” giving employees a fixed sum of money and allowing them to choose their medical coverage and insurer from an online marketplace, or exchange1. “It’s a fundamental change,” EBRI’s director of health research, Paul Fronstin, noted in the WSJ article.

Indeed, this is the time of year when many American workers – and, by extension, most Americans – will find out the particulars of their health insurance coverage for the following year. For most, the changes are likely to be modest. And, based on the 2012 Health Confidence Survey (HCS), not only do most Americans seem to be confident in those future prospects, they would seem to be satisfied with that outcome.

More than half of those with health insurance are extremely or very satisfied with their current plans, and a third are somewhat satisfied. Nearly three-quarters say they are satisfied with the health benefits they receive now, compared with just 56 percent in 2004.

Dissatisfaction, such as there is to be found, appears to be focused primarily on cost; just 22 percent are extremely or very satisfied with the cost of their health insurance plans, and even fewer are satisfied with the costs of health care services not covered by insurance. Perhaps not surprisingly, about one-half (52 percent) of Americans with health insurance coverage report having experienced an increase in health care costs3 in the past year, though that was the lowest rate since this question was added to the survey in 2006.

The HCS found that confidence about various aspects of today’s health care system has remained fairly stable2 – and undiminished either by the passage of, or the recent Supreme Court decision on, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA); more than one-half (56 percent) of respondents report being extremely or very confident that they are able to get the treatments they need, and another quarter (27 percent) report being somewhat confident. Only 16 percent of 2012 HCS respondents said they were “not too” or “not at all” confident that their employer/union would continue to offer health insurance for workers – though that was more than twice as many as expressed that level of concern in 2000.

While respondents were generally supportive of the measures broadening access and/or choice in the PPACA, nearly two-thirds said they hadn’t yet noticed any changes to their health insurance – and among the 31 percent that had, 70 percent said the changes were negative, including impacts such as higher premiums, higher copays, and reduced coverage of services.

Despite a falloff from previous surveys, more than two-thirds (69 percent) of employed workers said that benefits were “very important” in their employment decision, with health insurance topping the list of those important benefits by an enormous margin. Nearly six out of 10 said that health insurance was the most important employee benefit, as has been the case for some time now.

All of which reinforces that, while many see room for improvement in the current system, those that have employment-based health insurance now like it, and want to keep it.

It will be interesting to see if, in the months and years ahead, they get that wish.

- Nevin E. Adams, JD

More information from the 2012 Health Confidence Survey (HCS) is online here. The HCS is sponsored by EBRI and Mathew Greenwald & Associates, Inc., a Washington, DC-based market research firm, and made possible by the generous support of the HCS underwriters, listed here.

1 More information about private health insurance exchanges is available in the July 2012 EBRI Issue Brief “Private Health Insurance Exchanges and Defined Contribution Health Plans: Is It Déjà Vu All Over Again?”

2Asked to rate the health care system, survey respondents offered a diverse perspective: 17 percent rated it either “very good” or “excellent,” 28 percent consider it to be “good,” 28 percent say “fair,” and 26 percent rate it “poor.” However, the percentage of Americans rating the health care system as poor doubled between 1998 and 2004 (rising from 15 percent to 30 percent).

3Of more than passing concern is the finding that among those experiencing cost increases in their plans in the past year, nearly a third had decreased their contributions to retirement plans, while more than half have decreased their contributions to other savings as a result.