The Chronic Problem Of Declining Health Care In The U.S.

"Although unemployment has increased and the labor market has shrunk over this period, the loss of jobs cannot explain all of the decline in employer health care coverage. Jobholders also experienced a drop in coverage from 58.9% to 56.4%, a change of 2.5 percentage points. This decline may be the result of a couple of trends: the slack in the labor market that has weakened workers' bargaining power or steep increases in health care costs that are being passed to employers and employees in the form of higher premiums and lower take-up rates." Full report at: http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/issuebrief202