Fewer have employer-paid health insurance

WASHINGTON, June 20 (UPI) -- Forty-five percent of U.S. workers received employer-provided healthcare coverage from January through May, down from 45,8 percent last year, a survey found.

The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index tracks U.S. well being based on telephone interviews conducted Jan. 2-May 31 of a random sample of 147,291 adults. The survey indicates 25.3 percent of adults say they have government health insurance -- Medicare, Medicaid, or military/veterans' benefits -- unchanged from 2010, but significantly higher than in 2009 and 2008.

Employer-based health insurance is down across all major demographic groups in 2011 compared with 2008. It decreased by 6.5 percentage points among blacks, it decreased 6.2 percentage points among those ages 27-35 and decreased 6.1 percentage points among those with an annual income between $36,000 and $89,999.

However, seniors who qualify at age 65 for Medicare and those ages 18-26 who can now be included on a parent's health insurance were least affected by the drop-off in employer-based healthcare.

The survey has a margin of error of 1 percentage point.