Poll: Employers insuring fewer employees

WASHINGTON, July 5 (UPI) -- The percentage of U.S. adults ages 26-64 with health insurance dropped from 56.7 percent in 2011 to 55.9 percent in June, a survey indicates.

The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index surveyed 87,521 U.S. adults April 1 to June 30 and found the percentage of 18- to 25-year-olds with employer-based insurance had increased.

The slight uptick from 2011 to 2012 in employer-based insurance among 18- to 25-year-olds came as the provision of the Affordable Care Act allowed them to stay on their parents' plans until age 26 went into effect.

The percentage of all U.S. adults with employer-based health insurance was 44.2 percent in the second quarter of 2012, a percentage that has been decreasing since the recession began in 2008.

Government-based health insurance -- Medicare, Medicaid and military/veterans' benefits -- was at 25.7 percent in the second quarter of 2012 -- much higher than it had been in 2008 or 2009, Gallup said.

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