The percentage of U.S. workers with employer-sponsored health coverage has dropped since the Great Recession began in 2007.
Analysts have debated whether group coverage rates dropped because employers were offering health benefits to fewer workers or if fewer workers were taking up the benefits offered.
Paul Fronstin of the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), Washington, has looked at government survey data and concluded the most obvious change has been an increase in the unemployment rate.
The uninsured workers themselves say the cost of coverage is the most serious obstacle to having coverage, Fronstin says.
In the past, EBRI has published reports talking about group health concerns such as coverage for part-time workers, long-term care planning and dependent coverage.