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  • Ideas for Covering the Uninsured
  • Understanding the Healthcare Marketplace
PUBLICATIONS

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Employers' Role

Recent Publications

Business Initiatives to Expand Health Coverage for Workers in Small Firms—Volume 1, Overview and Lessons Learned, and Volume 2, Four Case Studies, (October 2001). Prepared for the Commonwealth Fund by Jack A. Meyer and Lise S. Rybowski. This report weighs the problems and prospects of purchasing coalitions formed by larger businesses to help small firms expand access to health insurance. It concludes that private sector solutions alone are unlikely to solve the long-term problem, and the public sector will need to step in to make health insurance more affordable to small businesses.  Volume 2 looks at programs in San Francisco, Denver, New York, and Madison. It concludes that while programs sponsored by large employers can do little to influence the rates paid by small businesses, these initiatives have succeeded in providing small firms with more choices than they would have had on their own. These documents are available through The Commonwealth Fund by calling their toll-free publications line at 1-888-777-2744 and ordering publication #475 or through their website in the section on health insurance, the uninsured. They can also be dowloaded in PDF format directly from this website: Volume 1 and Volume 2.

The State of Employment-Based Health Coverage and Business Attitudes About Its Future. Prepared by Sharon Silow-Carroll, Todd Kutyla, and Jack A. Meyer. Based on in-depth interviews with employers, the report reviews the history and trends of the employment-based health coverage system, assesses its strengths and weaknesses, and explores how employers themsleves feel about continuing their current roles in that system and about various options to reform it. The report is available in PDF format and can be viewed on-line or downloaded. It can also be ordered by sending an email request to esri@esresearch.org or by calling 202 833-8877 ext. 10.

Business Attitudes Toward Health Insurance Coverage of Employees and Their Dependent Children: Results from a National Survey, prepared by Michael J. Perry, Christopher G. Marshall, and Neil J. Robertson for the Economic and Social Research Institute under a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, August 1999. Results of a survey of 1,200 small, medium, and large businesses regarding their attitudes about health care for employees and dependents. The report is available in PDF format and can be viewed on-line or downloaded.

Business and Employee Attitudes Toward the New State Children's Health Insurance Program: Results from a National Survey and Focus Groups, Jack A. Meyer, Elliot K. Wicks, Stephanie E.Anthony, Laurie E. Rosenberg, and Michael J. Perry. Prepared for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, May 1999. Draws on a national sample of employers who employ significant numbers of workers whose children are likely to be eligible for the state CHIP programs. The report explores the extent to which employers are likely to stop paying for health insurance coverage for children of such workers if the children become eligible for the new state-subsidized plans. Based on focus groups with the employees, the report documents the circumstances under which employees themselves might decide to substitute state-subsidized coverage under CHIP for employer-sponsored coverage. The full report is available for a charge of $20. Also available is a short document that summarizes the findings, Crowd-Out Under CHIP (available in html format as well as in printed form for $5 each). Discounts are available for multiple-copy purchases of any of the documents. Send email request to esri@esresearch.org, or if you do not have email, call 202 833-8877 Ex.10.

Report on Report Cards: Initiatives of Health Coalitions and State Government Employers to Report on Health Plan Performance and Use Financial Incentives, Vol. II Elliot K. Wicks, Jack A. Meyer, Lise S. Rybowski, and Michael J. Perry. Prepared for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, April 1999. The second volume of a two-volume report on findings from a multi-year project conducted by the Economic and Social Research Institute to investigate how health coalitions and state government employers are assessing the performance of health plans and reporting the results of these assessments to their employees to help them select health plans. Also available is a short document, Using Report Cards to Assess Health Plans, that summarizes our work, with particular attention to reporting the findings of practical use to employers that may wish to initiate a report card effort themselves. The summary documents are $5 each, and each of the longer reports are $20 each or $30 each for both. Discounts are available for multiple-copy purchases of any of the three documents. Send email request to esri@esresearch.org, or if you do not have email, call 202 833-8877 Ex.10.

Report on Report Cards: Initiatives of Health Coalitions and State Government Employers to Report on Health Plan Performance and Use Financial Incentives, Jack A. Meyer, Elliot K. Wicks, Lise S. Rybowski, and Michael J. Perry. Prepared for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, March 1998. Focuses on the efforts of health coalitions, state employers, and a large employer to help employees make wiser decisions in choosing health plans by providing them with information on health plan performance. Also examines financial incentives used by these purchasers to motivate health plans to improve quality and other aspects of performance and to induce employees to be cost-sensitive and quality-conscious in choosing health plans. The Executive Summary is available on line in html format. The full report can be ordered from ESRI for $20; discounts are available for volume orders. Send email request to esri@esresearch.org, or if you do not have email, call 202 833-8877.

Employer Coalition Initiatives in Health Care Purchasing, Volume 2, Jack A. Meyer, Sharon Silow-Carroll, Ingrid A. Tillmann, and Lise Rybowski. Prepared for The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation,September 1996. Reports on a 15-month evaluation of six employer health care coalitions. Assesses their progress in building information systems, using financial incentives, and educating employees on health issues. Features three case studies. A companion volume (February 1996) profiled three additional coalitions.

Assessing Business Attitudes on Health Care, Jack A. Meyer, Diane H. Naughton, and Michael J. Perry. Prepared for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Presents the results of a survey of over 600 employers, focusing on their attitudes toward health coverage for children. Download in PDF format.*



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