Employment-based health benefits are the most common form of health insurance in the United States. In 2010, 58.7 percent of non-elderly individuals were covered by employment-based health plans, with 68.6 percent of working adults covered. However, the percentage of the population with employment-based health benefits has recently been in decline due to the 2007-2009 recession. The percentage of individuals under age 65 with employment-based health benefits fell from 62.4 percent in 2008 to 58.7 percent in 2010, and the percentage of workers with coverage through their own employers fell from 54.2 percent in 2007 to 51.5 percent in 2010, its lowest level since 1994. The Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) recently published an Issue Brief to examine the state of employment-based health benefits among workers with respect to offer rates, coverage rates, and take-up rates. It also examines how the state of employment-based health benefits has changed since the mid-1990s, reasons why workers do not have employment-based health benefits from their own employers, and how these reasons have changed since the 1990s. The estimates presented in this paper can also serve as a baseline against which to measure the impact of the Affordable Care Act of 2010 (ACA) on employment-based health benefits in the future.

In a report entitled, "A Decade of Coverage Losses: Implications for the Affordable Care Act," the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and the Urban Institute analyze coverage trends among children, parents, and adults without dependent children as a guide to coverage changes that could be expected in coming years without the Affordable Care Act. The report uses the 2000 to 2010 Annual Social and Economic (ASEC) Supplement to the Current Population Surveys (CPS) to project such trends. The study provides overall trends and trends by income, using the ACA's modified-adjusted gross income (MAGI) to categorize individuals. The paper also explores the extent to which changes in income distribution contributed to the last decade's coverage patterns.