The Evolving Dynamics of Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance

Although employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) is the predominant form of health insurance coverage in the United States, little is known about the frequency at which people with ESI change plans, lose their insurance, and whether turnover in the ESI system has increased over time.  A new study in the Milbank Quarterly by John A. Graves and Pranita Mishra of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine found that, between 2005 and 2013, the roughly one-third of US adults who transition from an ESI plan over a two-year period were more likely to rely on coverage through a spouse or family member than to maintain continuous insurance once their own plan ended.  Those who had no other family coverage option were twice as likely to become uninsured.