2013 Health and Voluntary Workplace Benefits Survey: Nearly 90% of Workers Satisfied With Their Own Health Plan, But 55% Give Low Ratings to Health Care System

Abstract

Three years after passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA), implementation of many of its provisions and delay of others, the majority of workers continue to give low marks to the U.S. health care system, though the vast majority are satisfied with their own health plans. This paper examines public opinion with respect to various aspects of the United States health care system using data from the 2013 EBRI/Greenwald & Associates Health and Voluntary Workplace Benefits Survey (WBS) as well as from the 1998-2012 EBRI/Greenwald & Associates Health Confidence Survey (HCS). The WBS and HCS examine a broad spectrum of health care issues, including workers’ satisfaction with health care today, their confidence in the future of the health care system and the Medicare program, and their attitudes toward benefits in the workplace. Asked to rate the U.S. health care system, a majority of workers describe it as poor (21 percent) or fair (34 percent). Thirty-one percent consider it good, while only a small minority rate it as very good (12 percent) or excellent (2 percent). Dissatisfaction with the health care system appears to be focused primarily on cost. The 2013 Workplace Benefits Survey (WBS) and the 1998-2012 Health Confidence Survey (HCS) find that the percentage of workers rating the health care system as poor doubled between 1998 and 2006 (rising from 14 percent to 32 percent); however, that percentage has fallen slightly more recently. In contrast to the ratings for the health care system overall, workers’ ratings of their own health plans continue to be generally favorable. One-half (51 percent) of those with health insurance coverage are extremely or very satisfied. While 46 percent of workers indicate they are extremely or very confident about their ability to get the treatments they need today, only 28 percent are confident about their ability to get needed treatments during the next 10 years, and just 19 percent are confident about this once they are eligible for Medicare.

The PDF for the above title, published in the September 2013 issue of EBRI Notes, also contains the fulltext of another September 2013 EBRI Notes article abstracted on SSRN: “How Does Household Income Change in the Ten Years Around Age 65?”

Keywords: Employment-based benefits, Health care attitudes and opinions, Health care costs, Health care utilization, Health insurance attitudes and opinions

JEL Classification: I10, J3, J32