Montana Household and Employer Health Insurance Coverage

1
Montana Household and Employer Health Insurance
Coverage

• Steve Seninger, Ph. D. Economist
• Bureau of Business and
• Economic Research
• The University of Montana-Missoula
• January 11, 2003

2
INTRODUCTION

• PURPOSE Household survey?initial income data,
  status, and issues for Employer Survey
  
• Bureau Team Steve Seninger, Health Economist
  John Baldridge, Survey Development Jim
  Sylvester, Survey Operations

3
Income, Poverty Health Insurance

• Lower incomeHigher probability of uninsured
• Uninsured at risk of uninsured
• AT RISK ?poverty, dependent on public budget, and
  transitional/intermittent
  
• Uninsured
• Intermittently insured
• Medicaid and CHIP

4
(No Transcript)
5
(No Transcript)
6
Early Results Distribution of Montanas Poor by
Health Insurance Status 2002

• Household Sample n1086, poverty n114
• 13 of Montanans who are below FPL have private
  insurance
  
• 38 have Medicare
• 20 have Medicaid or Chip
• 20 are uninsured
• 9 are intermittentdid not have insurance
  sometime during past 12 months
  

Steve Seninger-BBER 1/11/03
7
(No Transcript)
8
Household Survey-Incidence of Poverty by Health
Insurance Status (n1086)

• Preliminary?the poor persons (below FPL) as a
  percent of all persons in a health insurance
  category are
  
• Medicare18
• Private Insurance2.5
• Medicaid/Chip52
• Uninsured/intermittent18
• Results for 100 and 150 of FPL

9
(No Transcript)
10
(No Transcript)
11
Health Status by Insurance Coverage Kaiser
Commission-National Data 1997

• 38 of Medicaid Recipients in fair or poor health
  compared to
  
• 21 of uninsured and 11 of private insured
• 26 of Medicaid recipients has serious
  illness/health problem in last year
  compared..to
  
• 20 of uninsured and
• 17 of privately insured

12
(No Transcript)
13
Health Care Costs

• Health Insurance Costs?Insurance premiums up by
  12.7 from 01 to 02
  
• Underlying factor?higher healthcare
  costsprescription drugs and other health items
  
• Overall healthcare cost increasesTWICE rate of
  general inflation
  
• Workers earnings lagging behind these costs
• Add to this?a slowing economy threat of double
  dip recession
  

Steve Seninger-BBER 1/11/03
14
Figure 6 Health Insurance Premium Increases
Compared With Other Indications, 1990-2002
SOURCES Kaiser/Health Research and Educational
Trust (HRET) Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health
Benefits, 2001 KPMG Survey and the Bureau of
Labor Statistics.
15
EMPLOYER COST ISSUES

• Cost, Cost, Cost (HI premiums 12)?increase
  employee share reduce scope of benefits
  
• How much assistance to alleviate cost increases?
  10.. 20.. 30?
  
• Tradeoff between workers wages and non-wage
  benefits and costespecially health insurance
  
• Think or know that their uninsured workers have
  coverage elsewhere
  

Steve Seninger-BBER 1/11/03
16
OTHER ISSUES

• Premiums and cost of coverage
• Employee contributions and cost sharing
• Covered benefitsincluding prescription drugs
• Retiree coverage
• Availability of Coverage-expanding or
  contractingfirm size and part-time vs. workers
  
• Montana Firmspart-time

Steve Seninger-BBER 1/11/03
17
Figure 7 Montana US Firms Offering HI by Firm
Size, 1999
Percent of FirmsOffering Health Insurance
Size of Firm
SOURCE Kaiser/Health Research Educational
Trust Agency for Healthcare Research
Quality, (HHS)