NEHIS is the first federally sponsored survey designed to produce State estimates of employer-sponsored health insurance. Data are based on responses from 34,604 private establishments (business locations) obtained in computer-assisted telephone interviews.

Data Highlights

At the end of 1993, 52 percent of private sector establishments sponsored group health insurance and 58 percent of employees participated in their health plans.

Firm size was one of the most important determinants of whether a business offered health insurance. One-third of establishments that belong to firms with less than 10 employees offered health insurance compared with 96 percent of establishments in firms of 100 or more employees.

Approximately 56 percent of establishments sponsoring health insurance offered managed care plans, 26 percent offered a health maintenance organization (HMO), and 35 percent a preferred provider organization (PPO) plan.

Approximately 74 percent of private establishments that offered health insurance in the United States required employees work, on average, a minimum of 32 hours per week to be eligible for health benefits.

Plan and Operation of the National Employer Health Insurance Survey
Description
This report provides a description of the development of the NEHIS including the survey design; the questionnaire content; and the methodologies employed in data collection, in data processing, and for data analysis. Current and future analysts and data users should find the topic areas and details covered in this report instructive when analyzing and utilizing the NEHIS data set. Conducted in 1994, the NEHIS was a probability sample survey of private establishments and governments, designed to produce state and national estimates of employer-sponsored health insurance. Topics included employee eligibility and enrollment and characteristics of offered plans.

The NEHIS four major objectives were to:

Provide baseline data for evaluating the effects of heath care reform at the state and national level.

Describe the employment-based health insurance system as of 1993.

Measure state and national levels of health insurance spending for the National Health Accounts. (National Health Accounts are HCFA’’s source of data used for describing the current economic resources of the National devoted to health care.

Provide data for prospective policy analysis of the effects of health care reform.

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Health Insurance Coverage for the Self-Employed With no Employees
Description
This report describes the health insurance coverage of self-employed individuals with no employees (SENE’s) by socioeconomic and demographic characteristics. Data presented include their health insurance coverage status; sources of coverage; types of plans; covered services; barriers to access; and information related to annual out-of-pocket costs and monthly health insurance premium contributions.

Self-employed individuals with no employees (SENE’s) represent a small but important segment of the workforce. According to the National Employer Health Insurance Survey (NEHIS) they account for almost one-half of all businesses nationally yet are usually excluded from employer surveys. Therefore, in order to provide baseline data for evaluating the effects of health care reform, the sample design of NEHIS included a sample of SENE’s.

Data Highlights

At the end of 1993, of the 4.5 million self-employed individuals with no employees (SENE’s) aged 18-64 years, 31 percent were uninsured, 28 percent directly purchased health insurance, 38 percent had coverage through other employment-related sources (mostly through a spouse), and 5 percent had coverage through a public source.

Family income was one of the most important determinants of health insurance coverage for SENE’s. Almost two-thirds of SENE’s with an annual family income of less than $20,000 were uninsured compared to 16 percent of SENE’s with family income of $35,000 or more.

Two-thirds of SENE’s who purchased health insurance directly from an insurance company obtained a fee-for-service plan, while among SENE’s with other employment-related plans, 39 percent had a fee-for service plan.