AND recent survey revealed that one in three Americans would turn down their dream job if it didn’t offer good health insurance options.
The survey of 2,000 U.S. adults found that three-quarters (73%) consider health care options to be an essential factor when looking for a recent job, and 63% wouldn’t be afraid to ask about their options during a job interview.
However, given the importance Americans place on health care, 42% imagine their employer offers them only the bare minimum health insurance options. In fact, 44% imagine they might have higher health options if the problem was reported to their employer.
The season for signing up for benefits is approaching, a study commissioned by Health Tresa and conducted by Interviewee researchrevealed that many people feel their health care is inadequate or unavailable – 42% said they might even change jobs if a potential recent employer offered higher health care than they currently have.
Forty-two percent of individuals who reported being currently employed feel that their current employer does not care about their health or the health of their co-workers. This was very true for individuals who said they’d incomes of lower than $60,000.
Of the sample, nearly 40% work in a blue-collar industry, and 72% of Americans reported having a household income of lower than $60,000.
Forty-four percent of them imagine that their employer does not care about their health; in comparison with just 36% of respondents who earn greater than $60,000 a yr.
Affordability emerged as one other major concern for respondents. When asked how much they might afford for an unexpected out-of-pocket health or medical expense, almost half (48%) said they might only afford lower than $100.
And when asked how much they might be willing to spend extra each month on their health plan, 37% said they couldn’t afford greater than they already pay, even if the extra payment meant offering more coverage.
Respondents also said they believed a primary care plan should cover dental care (67%), vision care (64%), hospital stays (59%), improved availability of prescribed drugs (57%), and mental and behavioral health care ( 55%).
“Traditional health plans today are aimed more at a specific working-class population and in many cases leave workers behind, especially those who work for small employers or in the blue-collar sector,” said Ari Rostowsky, managing partner of Tres Health. (*3*)
The study found that when selecting a health care plan, people often look primarily at how much they may pay.
They look for plans that supply low/no copays (50%), low prescription costs (46%), low deductible costs (46%), and low premium costs (45%).
More than 4 in 10 (41%) said they were in a situation where they couldn’t afford to pay for health care expenses, and 30% said they currently had medical debt.
Among those in debt, the average person has to pay almost $6,000 for treatment.
Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), every employer must provide minimum essential coverage to employees and cover at least 60% of the plan’s costs.
Some employers offer minimum essential coverage (MEC) plans or minimum value plans (MVP) that cover essential services. But it depends on the employer how comprehensive these plans will likely be and at what cost they will likely be borne by the worker.
Among respondents, the following services are the most precious: doctor services (60%), free preventive care (44%), laboratory services (44%), emergency services (41%), hospital services (37%) and telehealth (28%).
“Every health plan should offer some form of primary and preventive care at a price that employees can feel comfortable using,” explains Mike Feeney, managing partner of Tres Health. (*1*)