July 11, 2007

Job-based insurance shrinking

By Victoria Colliver
Chronicle Staff Writer

    Less than half of California workers get health insurance through their jobs, according to a study set for release today. The rest find coverage through a partner or spouse, a government program or are uninsured.

    The study by the Center on Policy Initiatives, a San Diego nonprofit that researches issues affecting workers, found 49 percent of working Californians receive coverage through their employers, while 15 percent have insurance through somebody else, typically a spouse or partner.

    Researchers also found wide discrepancies in coverage among industries. Hotel and food service was at the bottom, insuring just 20 percent of workers. At the same time, 73.7 percent of employees in public administration, which includes federal and state workers, have insurance.

    About 28 percent of working adults -- or 5 million Californians -- are uninsured or covered through a government program such as Medi-Cal, the report noted.

    "The cost of their health care is being shifted to someone else," said Susan Duerksen, co-author of the study. "For those on government programs, it's being shifted to taxpayers. For the uninsured, it's being shifted to everyone else who buys health insurance, and that's mostly other businesses."

    Job-based coverage, considered the primary source of health coverage for Americans, has eroded over the years, with fewer employers providing benefits and others requiring employees to pay a greater share.

    The percentage of non-elderly working adults with children offered health insurance through their jobs fell nationally to 66.8 percent in 2005 from 69.2 percent in 1997, according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

    The Center on Policy Initiatives report comes as California is debating health reforms and as San Francisco is rolling out a program that makes it the first city in the nation to attempt to provide universal coverage to residents.

    Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed a health reform plan he says would provide coverage to all Californians. And a bill authored by Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, and Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, D-Los Angeles, would require employers to provide insurance. The bill is expected to pass the Senate health committee today.

    San Francisco student Sarah Ahn, 25, works part time as a server at a Mission District restaurant that does not offer coverage even to full-time employees. She declined to name the restaurant.

    On returning from travel in India three years ago, Ahn developed typhoid fever, racked up $40,000 in hospital bills and filed for bankruptcy.

    "Even after that little run-in, I still don't have health insurance because it is so expensive," Ahn said. "In the end I feel like it's something the government should be providing."

    Besides hotels and food service, other low-ranking industries include administrative support, real estate, agriculture and mining.

    By contrast, more than 58 percent of workers in finance and insurance, wholesale trade, manufacturing, and professional and technical services are covered through their jobs. Other high-ranking industries include education at 61.8 percent and information technology at 62.6 percent.

    Jot Condie, president of the California Restaurant Association, said more restaurants offer coverage than the report indicates.

    "In a lot of cases, they (employees) don't take up the offer because employers can't afford to pay 100 percent of coverage, or even 50 percent of coverage," he said. He added that the average restaurant has a profit margin of less than 3 percent.

    Health care costs and access problems need to be addressed as a society rather than as an employer problem, Condie said.

    "Throwing this crisis -- and we do believe it's a crisis -- at the doorstep of small business is misplaced," he said.

    The report is based on the California Health Interview Survey of 45,000 households conducted by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research. The California Employment Development Department provided additional data.

    Online: Working uninsured report

The working uninsured: A study set for release today about California's working uninsured found:

49 percent of California workers receive health insurance from their employers while 15 percent get coverage through someone else, usually a spouse.
About 2 million workers are covered through government programs while another 3 million are uninsured.
The percentage of employer-insured workers within specific industries ranges from 20 to 74.

Source: Center on Policy Initiatives