Assistant Secretary Olena Berg of PWBA, speaking on the March 5, CSG Health Policy Monitor Teleconference, said that this same challenge is faced by state decision-makers. With this in mind, it is important the system en-courages employers to offer health insurance to employees, but also ensures adequate and fair coverage to those employees. Twenty-three years ago, most people were covered through regular insurance health plans.
States retain the authority to regulate the business of insurance.
In 1976, only 4 percent of health benefits were paid for under self-insured plans. As firm size grows, so does the likelihood that an employer will self-insure. According to the 1993 RWJF study, more than 75 percent of employees in self-insured plans work in a firm with 500 or more employees. Firms with one to 100 employees represent only 8.3 percent of the employees in self-insured plans. These numbers make sense considering that larger firms presumably have more funds available to purchase their own health insurance.