Employer-provided healthcare drops, again

The percentage of U.S. working adults who get their health insurance from an employer declined to 44.5 percent in the third quarter, a survey found. The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index said about 45 percent of working Americans got their health insurance from an employer in every month in 2010, compared with more than 46 percent in 2009 and more than 48 percent in 2008. The percentage of adults reporting they have no health insurance has risen to about 17.3 percent for the past six months, a record high, but the increase might be due to Gallup's decision to include more cellphone-only U.S. respondents beginning April 1. Cellphone-only respondents tend to be younger and more likely uninsured in Gallup samples. The percentage of 18- to 26-year-olds who lack health insurance declined, but there has been an increase among 25- to- 64-year-olds without health insurance. The Affordable Care Act lets young adults stay on their parents' health plans until age 26, but few other provisions of the healthcare reform have been enacted. The percentage of Americans who get their health insurance from the government -- Medicare, Medicaid, or military/veterans' benefits -- declined in the second and third quarters of 2011, the survey said. The telephone interviews of 90,070 adults were conducted as part of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index survey July 1 to Sept. 30. The margin of error was 1 percentage point.