Remember when Barack Obama repeatedly dispelled claims from so-called right-wingers that his flagship legislation, Obamacare, would not only benefit those who currently do not have health insurance, but would also create a better system for those who have it. We were promised:
“If you like your health care plan,
you can keep your health care plan.”
Over and over and over, we heard this claim. He laughed in the face of conservatives at the mere mention that Obamacare would impact those who currently have employer-sponsored health insurance.
Not so, says a new Gallup report that shows employer-sponsored health care continues a steep decline, from the date Obama signed his monumental legislation into law.
The percentage of American adults who get their health insurance from an employer continues to decline, falling to 44.5% in the third quarter of this year. This percentage has been steadily declining since Gallup and Healthways started tracking Americans’ health insurance sources in 2008.
At least 45% of Americans got their health insurance from an employer in every month in 2010, compared with more than 46% in 2009 and more than 48% in 2008. Initially, the percentage reporting they have employer-based health insurance seemed to be decreasing as unemployment and underemployment increased. However, it is likely that other factors — including fewer employers offering health insurance — are also contributing to this trend.
The percentage of adults with no health insurance has been increasing in 2011, with the 17.3% who were uninsured last quarter statistically tying the second quarter of this year for the highest on record. The increase in the percentage of uninsured Americans in the second quarter of 2011 coincides with Gallup’s decision to include surveying more cell phone-only respondents in the U.S. beginning April 1. Thus, some of the increase in the uninsured could reflect the greater representation of cell phone-only respondents — who tend to be younger (young adults are more likely to be uninsured) — in Gallup samples.
While the percentage of 18- to 26-year-olds who lack health insurance has declined, there has been an increase among 25- to- 64-year-olds — who make up a much larger segment of the population — without health insurance. Young adults are likely benefiting from the provision in the new healthcare law that lets them stay on their parents’ health plans until age 26. However, none of the other components of the health law that have already been implemented — tax credits to help small businesses provide health insurance to their employees and the establishment of a Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan among several others — appear to be affecting coverage for older adults.
Now many will argue, what came first, the egg or the chicken when it comes to directly linking Obamacare to the increasing loss of employer-sponsored health care. This debate is a mute point. Whether we are looking at correlation versus causation–misses the entire point and is a circular argument liberals wish we would focus on.
The private sector market (employers, health insurers, and the like) are clearly acting in anticipation of the massive regulatory labyrinth and the significant costs invoked by the legislation. Who suffers? ALL Americans. Those who had insurance are losing it, those who wish they had insurance still don’t have it and when they do, will receive a rationed, lower quality and those who can not afford it, will place a burden on the entire nation that could be economically crippling.
Consider yourself warned.
