Employer-Sponsored Health Coverage

Abstract

Most Americans rely on their employers for health insurance. In 1997, of the 167.5 million nonelderly Americans with private health insurance, 151.7 million belonged to employer-provided health plans.¹ In response to the escalating cost of health insurance coverage in the 1980s, employers began devising new strategies of cost containment. These included contracting with health plans that practiced a stringent form of managed care, substituting cheaper forms of health coverage for more expensive ones, limiting employees' choice of health plans, and shifting costs to employees in a variety of ways. These measures have stabilized health insurance costs for employers. However, they . . .