AHRQ Views Blog: Taking a Deep Data Dive Into Health Insurance Coverage

Joel Cohen, Ph.D., director of AHRQ’s Center for Financing, Access and Cost Trends, provides an overview of the recently released Medical Expenditure Panel Survey Insurance Component 2017 Chartbook. Produced annually by AHRQ since 1996 and based on surveys of more than 42,000 private-sector business establishments, the chartbook provides the most comprehensive national and state-level estimates on trends in employer-sponsored insurance, including offer rates, premium costs, employee eligibility and the number of employees who enroll. Among highlights in this year’s chartbook: between 2016 and 2017, premium increases for single, employee-plus-one and family coverage ranged from 4.4 percent to 5.5 percent — higher than increases in recent years. And, in 2017, 88 percent of private-sector enrollees had a deductible, up from 59 percent in 2004. Access the blog post.