Nine facts about about strengthening support for the employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) system.
- A recent analysis estimates that employer-sponsored coverage delivers $800 billion in personal value to American families and saves consumers $100 billion in health care costs each year.
- Employees value employer-sponsored coverage up to 84% more than the total cost of health coverage.
- Employer-sponsored insurance remains a vital coverage option for more than 160 million Americans and saves employees an estimated $625 per person each year on their health care.
- Researchers found that, under a proposal to expand Medicare to individuals aged 60-64, individuals earning between $18,000-$32,000 would pay more in premiums for Medicare than for many private plans.
- Researchers estimate that under a Medicare buy-in proposal, individuals purchasing coverage on their own could face premium increases up to 10 percent.
- Recent Congressional legislation that would establish a Medicare buy-in would increase federal spending by $184 billion over 10 years and only reduce the uninsured rate by .2 percent.
- The current Medicare system is designed to support seniors, however, a Medicare buy-in could result in a nationwide loss of over 44,000 physicians – a decrease of 5.4% – by 2050 leading to dramatically increased wait times for patients in need of care.
- Imposing a public option could lead to a new 4.8 percent payroll tax on American families over 30 years – far higher than the combined Medicare payroll tax Americans pay today.
- Recent estimates suggest that over 30 years, the public option would become the third most expensive government program behind only Medicare and Social Security and could add as much as $700 billion to the federal deficit in its first 10 years.
