Secretary Sebelius to Deliver Health Insurance Reform Address, Release New Report on Insurance Insecurity
" in 6 Americans with Health Insurance Provided by an Employer Lost Coverage

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius today will address the University of Chicago’s dialogue on health care reform and education and issue a new report on the employer-sponsored insurance market. The new report, Insurance Insecurity: Families Are Losing Employer-Sponsored Insurance Coverage is available at www.HealthReform.gov and highlights problems in the status quo that have left Americans who receive health insurance from an employer at risk of losing their insurance coverage and joining the ranks of the uninsured.

“I share the President’s optimism that we can achieve reform this year. Americans have never understood this clearly -- our health insurance system is broken -- for the insured, for the uninsured, for all of us,” said Sebelius. “Now it’s time to deliver for the American people.”

The new report indicates:

A full one in six Americans with employer-sponsored insurance in 2006 lost that coverage by 2008.
When an employee and his or her family lose employer coverage, the family must seek alternative coverage and frequently turn to the individual market. However, a family that buys insurance on the individual market pays nearly 60 percent more in out-of-pocket costs such as deductibles and co-payments than a family that gets insurance through work
Almost 75 percent of individuals looking for coverage on the individual market never bought a plan, with 61 percent of those who did not purchase the insurance citing premium cost as the primary reason.
The complete report can be read at www.HealthReform.gov."