Recent Data and Research Articles on Health Benefits from the National Compensation Survey

The National Compensation Survey (NCS) provides comprehensive information on health benefit plans. Under the NCS program, information on the incidence and provisions of benefits is published in stages. A bulletin is published with a March reference date each year with data collected from respondents for civilian (as defined by NCS), State and local government, and private industry workers, on the access to, and participation in, selected benefits such as healthcare plans, as well as employer and employee shares of contributions to medical care premiums and their average amounts. A second publication, based on employer documentation of benefit plans, is published annually with more detailed information on basic provisions of health plans. Also, additional provisions of health benefit plans are published on a rotating basis. Employer costs for employee compensation are published quarterly. Included are costs of health insurance for different occupational and industry groups, worker characteristics, and geographic areas. In addition, the Employment Cost Index publishes 12-month percent changes in employer costs for health benefits in private industry.

Employee Benefits

• Most recent data on health plan coverage: National Compensation Survey: Employee Benefits in the United States, March 2016

• Most recent detailed health care plan provisions data: National Compensation Survey: Health and Retirement Plan Provisions in Private Industry in the United States, 2015. For example, the percent of medical care plan participants in fee-for-service plans with a variable deductible.

• Special Report: ”Selected Medical Benefits: A Report from the Department of Labor to the Department of Health and Human Services.”

• Covered Services and Limits in Health Benefit Plans for State and local Government Workers, March 2011

• Most recent data on access to employer-sponsored health care benefits for unmarried domestic partners: National Compensation Survey: Employee Benefits in the United States, March 2016. (Table 44)

• Glossary of health benefits terms

 

Employment Cost Trends

• Historical series on 12-month percent change in employer health benefit costs, private industry, 1982 to present, at www.bls.gov/web/eci/echealth.pdf.

• Historical series on health benefit costs per hour worked, 2004 to present, at www.bls.gov/ncs/ect/sp/ececqrtn.pdf. �Employer costs per hour worked for health plans were $1.81 in March 2004; in March 2016 the costs were $2.85.

 

Published Articles

• “A Look at Healthcare Spending, Employment, Pay, Benefits, and Prices” Spotlight on Statistics, June 2016 (takes a look at employment and compensation, including health care benefits, as well as consumer spending on health care in the health care industry).

• “Nonprofit pay and benefits: estimates from the National Compensation Survey” Monthly Labor Review, January 2016 (examines compensation and discusses incidence and employer costs of health care benefits in the nonprofit sector).

• “The relationship between access to benefits and weekly work hours” Monthly Labor Review, June 2015 (examines access to employee benefits, including retirement, based on employees’ work schedule and establishments’ industry).

• “Measuring the generosity of employer-sponsored health plans: an actuarial-value approach” Monthly Labor Review, June 2015 (using survey NCS data together with the findings from the Medical Expenditure Panel, administered by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, assesses the actuarial value of employer-provided health care benefits).

• “Could healthcare reform be a game changer for U.S. self-employment? Evidence from Massachusetts” Monthly Labor Review, June 2015 (attempts to extrapolate the effects of the Massachusetts health reform on self-employment in the wake of implementation of the Affordable Care Act).

• “The National Compensation Survey and the Affordable Care Act: preserving quality health care data” Monthly Labor Review, April 2015 (highlights the research on the effects of the implementation of the Affordable Care Act on NCS health benefits data).

• “Understanding Health Plan types: What's in a name?” Beyond the Numbers: Pay and Benefits, January 2015, (highlights the differences in various types of health care delivery systems, as reflected in health care plans offered in the workplaces).

• “Trends in employment-based health insurance coverage: evidence from the National Compensation Survey” Monthly Labor Review, October 2014 (examines the dynamics of recent declines in incidence of health care coverage among various employee groups).

• “Paid Leave in Private Industry over the past 20 years” Beyond the Numbers: Pay and Benefits, August 2013, (looks at the changes in employer costs and in different paid leave benefits for private industry workers).

• “Compensation Highlights in Trade, Transportation and Utilities Industries” Beyond the Numbers: Pay and Benefits, May 2013, (takes a look at wages and employee benefits for workers in the trade, transportation, and utilities industries).

• “Retirement and Medical Benefits: Who Has Both?” Beyond the Numbers: Pay and Benefits, April 2013, (examines private industry workers' access to medical benefits, retirement benefits, and combinations of the two).

• “Concerns about health insurance and retirement” Monthly Labor Review, April 2013 (reviews "Health Insurance Coverage in Retirement: the Erosion of Retiree Income Security," Christian E. Weller, Jeffrey Wenger, and Elise Gould).

• “Employment Based Health Benefits in Small and Large Private Establishments” Beyond the Numbers: Pay and Benefits, April 2013, (compares health benefits from private sector employers).

• “Who has benefits in private industry in 2012?” Beyond the Numbers: Pay and Benefits, September 2012, (focuses on access to and participation in retirement and other benefits by various worker and establishment characteristics).

• “How Have Health Benefits Changed in State and Local Government from 1998 to 2011?” Beyond the Numbers: Pay and Benefits, June 2012, (changes in health care plan provisions from 1998 to 2011).

• “Program Perspectives on Health Benefit Costs by Wage Category” Program Perspectives, January 2012, (focuses on medical care benefit costs).

• “Program Perspectives on Outpatient Prescription Drug Coverage” Program Perspectives, August 2011 (data on access and participation rates plus coverage trends for private industry workers).

• “Program Perspectives on High Deductible Health Plans” Program Perspectives, April 2011 (data on participation and comparisons with traditional plans and features of health savings accounts).

• “Program Perspectives on State and Local Government Benefits” Program Perspectives, January 2011, (includes data on access to health benefits).

• “Consumer-Driven Health Care: What Is It, and What Does It Mean for Employees and Employers?” Compensation and Working Conditions Online, October 2010.

• “Program Perspectives on Fee-For-Service Plans” Program Perspectives, October 2010.

• “Program Perspectives on Combined Benefit Plans” Program Perspectives, July 2010, (new data series on employee access to medical care and retirement benefits).

 

Last Modified Date: October 19, 2016