The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) of 2010 created a temporary reinsurance program for sponsors of employment-based health plans that provide retiree health benefits to retirees who are over age 55 and not yet eligible for the Medicare program. The program provides an 80...

On Feb. 13, 2009, Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA, P.L. 111-5), which included a provision for the federal government to pay 65 percent of the premiums for individuals covered under the continuation of employment-based health insurance by COBRA who...

This paper examines HSA and HRA assets, account balances, and rollover amounts. It examines the types of individuals likely to have a consumer-driven health plan (CDHP). It then examines differences in account balances by demographics, income, contribution levels, and engagement in an...

This paper examines changes in health coverage among workers during the recession that started in December 2007. Data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation are used to examine health coverage prior to the recession, and as recently as July 2009. Monthly changes are examined for...

This paper examines employment-based health benefit coverage rates on a monthly basis from December 1995 to March 2009, to allow for more accurate identification of changes in trends, and to more clearly show the effects of recessions and unemployment on changes in coverage. Between December...

This paper explores differences in choice of health plan using data from the 2009 EBRI/MGA Consumer Engagement in Health Care Survey. It examines the likelihood of having a choice of plan by various demographics and work-related variables. It also examines choice by health status and health...

This paper summarizes presentations at EBRI’s 65th biannual policy forum, held in Washington, DC, on Dec. 10, 2009, on the topic, “Employers, Workers, and the Future of Employment-Based Health Benefits.” The forum brought together a wide range of economic, benefits, management, and labor...

This paper examines the prevalence of retiree health benefits among Medicare-eligible retirees. It discusses the percentage of retirees with employment-based retiree health benefits over the 1994-2008 period. It also examines the trend for individually purchased coverage as a supplement to...

This paper examines how current health reform legislation being debated in Congress will impact the future of retiree health benefits. The paper also provides background on the impact of private-sector accounting rule changes on the availability of retiree health benefits since the mid-1990s;...

This paper summarizes the literature on CDHP offer rates and enrollment. Since consumer-driven health plans (CDHPs) were first offered in 2001, estimates of how many workers would be enrolled in these plans have varied widely. The U.S. Treasury Department has predicted that 25-30 million people...