Employment-Based Health Insurance and the Changing Work Force

Since the mid-1980s, the percentage of the U.S. nonelderly population (ages 18-64) with employment-based health insurance coverage has declined. In 1995, 63.8 percent of the nonelderly population was covered by an employment-based health insurance plan, compared with 69.2 percent in 1987. Analysts cite numerous factors as contributing to the erosion of employment-based health insurance. Primary among these factors are work force changes and rising health care costs coupled with stagnant wage growth