More fallout from Obamacare: workers losing employer paid insurance

This is a feature, not a bug. It was anticipated by Obamacare supporters that employers would ditch their health care plans and force their employees to get insurance on their own. According to Gallup, it is working beautifully:

The percentage of American adults who get their health insurance from an employer continues to decline, falling to 44.5% in the third quarter of this year. This percentage has been steadily declining since Gallup and Healthways started tracking Americans' health insurance sources in 2008.

At least 45% of Americans got their health insurance from an employer in every month in 2010, compared with more than 46% in 2009 and more than 48% in 2008. Initially, the percentage reporting they have employer-based health insurance seemed to be decreasing as unemployment and underemployment increased. However, it is likely that other factors -- including fewer employers offering health insurance -- are also contributing to this trend.

The percentage of adults with no health insurance has been increasing in 2011, with the 17.3% who were uninsured last quarter statistically tying the second quarter of this year for the highest on record. The increase in the percentage of uninsured Americans in the second quarter of 2011 coincides with Gallup's decision to include surveying more cell phone-only respondents in the U.S. beginning April 1. Thus, some of the increase in the uninsured could reflect the greater representation of cell phone-only respondents -- who tend to be younger (young adults are more likely to be uninsured) -- in Gallup samples.

While the percentage of 18- to 26-year-olds who lack health insurance has declined, there has been an increase among 25- to- 64-year-olds -- who make up a much larger segment of the population -- without health insurance. Young adults are likely benefiting from the provision in the new healthcare law that lets them stay on their parents' health plans until age 26. However, none of the other components of the health law that have already been implemented -- tax credits to help small businesses provide health insurance to their employees and the establishment of a Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan among several others -- appear to be affecting coverage for older adults.

If you examine the graph at the link, you will see a jump in employers dropping coverage about halfway through 2010. Obamacare was signed in June of that year and employers immediately began to vote with their feet.

Eventually, of course, there is only one place all of this leads; single payer, government sponsored health insurance. That's been the plan all along and at this point, it appears to be working.

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