1M lost insurance in last decade

February 25, 2012 at 12:00a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

More than 1 million Ohioans lost employer-sponsored health insurance during the past decade, according to data released by the Economic Policy Institute.

Ohio had the seventh-largest percentage decline in insured individuals under 65 from 2000 to 2010.

About 6.2 million Ohioans are covered by employer- sponsored health-insurance plans compared with 7.3 million a decade ago, a 12 percent decline.

All 50 states experienced declines in employer- covered individuals.

Those covered by employer-sponsored insurance aren’t likely to increase. Employers’ health-care costs are expected to top the $10,000 mark per employee for the first time this year, according to a recent study from Aon Hewitt, a human resources consultant who surveyed 371 large employers throughout the U.S.

“Part of the losses are they [employers] are businesses cutting back on employees or going out of business,” said Ray Kashmiry, president of R. Kashmiry and Associates Inc. in Boardman. “Am I surprised they are cutting back on employee coverage? I’m not surprised.”

Kashmiry says many health-care providers are gearing up for provisions in The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act — better known as Obama Care — which will be in full force by 2014.

The institute’s report detailed coverage losses across all age groups, but young adults age 18 to 24 continued to have the lowest rates of coverage.

Forty-six percent of those in that age group have employer-sponsored health insurance; 62 percent of those age 25 to 54 and 65 percent of those 55-64 are covered by their employers.

Males and females of all ages under 65 were statistically even in ESI at 58 percent.

Whites are now more disproportionately insured compared with blacks and Hispanics than a decade ago. The gap between whites and blacks covered by ESI rose from 19 percent in 2000 to 22 percent.

Education also played a role in ESI coverage.

Those with a high-school education or less are covered at a 50-percent clip or worse; 61 percent of those with some college education and 77 percent of those with a college degree are covered by ESI.