Full Citation
Title: Health and Productivity Challenges for Lower-Income Workers
Citation Type: Miscellaneous
Publication Year: 2019
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Abstract: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Access to health services is an important determinant of a person's health. In the U.S., health insurance is the principal means of access to affordable care-though rising deductibles and out-of-pocket costs present a barrier to care for many enrollees. Lower-income employees may be at a particularly high risk of experiencing cost-related barriers to care. Even when they have employment-based health insurance, high-deductibles, coinsurance, and health care and prescription medication costs can often keep health care out of their reach. Research shows that employers share some of the burden of illness when their workers cannot afford needed care. Foregone care results in lost work time and impaired job-performance-the value of which may negate savings from cost-sharing strategies. To explore the productivity losses that cost-related barriers to care can impose on employers, IBI analyzed the links between lower-income employees' health insurance, cost-related barriers to care, and illness-related absences from work. Summary findings for employees with family incomes above $35,000 are also reported. Principal findings: • From 2007 to 2017, two out of five lower-income employees (with annual family incomes less than $35,000) were uninsured. Among the insured, one in six were enrolled in high-deductible plans (defined as greater than $1,100 for a single person and $2,200 for two or more enrollees in a plan). Half of insured lower-income employees did not have coverage for prescription medications. • One in three lower-income employees experienced a cost-related barrier to care over the course of 12 months. Nearly one in four delayed needed care, compared to about one in five who could not afford medical care, and almost one in six who could not afford prescription medications. Only about one in 20 reported that they needed but could not afford mental health care. • More than half of uninsured lower-income employees experienced a cost-related barrier to care, compared to about one fifth of insured lower-income employees.
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Authors: Gifford, Brian; Peterson, Erin
Publisher:
Data Collections: IPUMS USA, IPUMS Health Surveys - NHIS
Topics: Labor Force and Occupational Structure, Other
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