Employer-provided health insurance dips 15% in Michigan

Michigan workers are losing their health-care coverage at a greater rate than any other state. In 2000, about 78 percent of Michigan workers got insurance through their employer. By 2011, that fell to about 63 percent. Lynn Blewett is a University of Minnesota professor who took part in the national study funded by the nonprofit Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. “We wanted to get a baseline of employer-sponsored coverage before the Affordable Care Act fully kicks in in 2014,” Blewett says. She says those who could afford it least were the most affected by the loss of health coverage. “These are small employers, low-wage firms, so it’s workers who have minimum wage or slightly above minimum wage, those are the ones that were hit the hardest,” Blewett says. Blewett says annual health-insurance premiums nearly doubled over the past decade causing many employers to drop the benefits. Read full article >>