A newer study based on Bureau of Labor Statistics finds an acceleration in a trend that’s been going on for a long time.  Fewer employees are getting health insurance from their employer. The Boston Globe reports that:

The study found 45 percent of US employees have health insurance at work, down from 63 percent in 1993……Walter Marshall, a bureau economist in the Boston office, called the drop in nationwide coverage "dramatic." But he warned the data may overstate the trend, in part because of coverage shifts within two-income families. Well there are many families in which everyone gets covered via the one family member with health insurance at work, but frequently that means paying a big share towards that coverage.  This goes along with the trend from defined benefit to defined contribution . As we used to say at Harris, "get less, pay more." One other thing we used to notice at Harris–dissatisfaction with health plans and services was highly correlated with out-of-pocket costs.

The trend to lower health insurance rates used to be concentrated among the lower paid.  Back in 2001 the Commonwealth Fund reported that 45% of those without health insurance from their employers earned less than $10 an hour. But the emergence of health care as a political issue in 1991 came as regular middle-class Americans found that they were getting access to care that looked more like care for poorer people (i.e. less and more expensive access). Well watch this space.  Most people are paying more for less insurance and those losing coverage are being forced into the individual "market"–which often means no coverage.  At the same time the Commonwealth Fund also reports that drug coverage for new retirees fell in 1995-2000 from 45% to less than 40% (down from 49% to 40% for male retirees.)

Health care hasn’t raised its head as a national political issue yet aside from the Medicare drug coverage debate/bills.  But if the drug coverage issue gets connected with the overall mess of the insurance market, it could be a sleeper issue.