Are employees informed about their health care coverage? Evidence from the Buyers Health Care Action Group

More than half of all Americans receive health insurance coverage through an employer. The rising costs and escalating complexity of health insurance has led many employers to embark on extensive employee education campaigns. In 2002, 1,365 randomly selected employees from 16 Buyers Health Care Action Group firms in the Minneapolis region were surveyed to evaluate their awareness of employer-provided health plan quality information and the extent to which this information influences their enrollment decisions. The study found mixed evidence with respect to the value of employer communication. On one hand, employer communication does not significantly increase the probability that an employee responded correctly to the pharmacy benefit question posed in the survey. However, employer communication has a large effect on the awareness of quality information. How well those campaigns work, and by extension how well employees are informed about the health benefits decisions they make, is a key issue in health care today.