New Study Exposes California Industries with Lowest Worker Health Coverage-- Restaurant and Hotel at the Bottom at 20%

Among the findings from our analysis of the state’s 17 major industries are:

• The proportion of workers with employer-provided health coverage ranges from 20% in hotels and restaurants to 74% in public administration. Only three major industries cover more than 60% of their workers: Education, Information and Public Administration.

• Some of the state’s largest industries have the lowest rates of employer-provided coverage. In Retail Trade, the largest private industry, more than 1 million workers do not receive health coverage through their jobs.

• Low-wage workers, who are least able to afford medical expenses on their own, are least likely to have employer-provided health coverage.

Obviously, the healthcare crisis is exacerbated when industries add large numbers of jobs that don’t include health coverage. Public policy at all levels of government can and must be set to encourage the growth of high-coverage industries and push other industries to cover more of their workers.

Local governments can do this through development strategies and using their purchasing power as leverage to set healthcare standards for contractors. State healthcare reform must require an equitable employer contribution across all industries, at a sufficient level to fund high-quality insurance for all workers.

Susan Duerksen is the communications director of the Center on Policy Initiatives (CPI), a nonprofit research and advocacy organization located in San Diego, and funded by private foundations and individual donations. A journalism graduate of Indiana University, Duerksen was a reporter for the San Diego Union-Tribune for 17 years, covering healthcare news during most of that time. Before joining CPI in 2006, she received a Master in Public Health degree from San Diego State University. She worked as a public health researcher at San Diego State University for four years, with a focus on policy and community changes to prevent childhood obesity.

CPI's research team analyzed data from the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) 2005, a survey of 45,000 households conducted by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, and from the California Employment Development Department. The UCLA center also released its two-year update of “The State of Health Insurance in California” yesterday, which is based on the same survey. The CPI study provides the only industry-specific analysis of the data. This study was partially funded by The California Endowment.