The number of Idaho residents who don’t have health insurance has remained about the same since 2004, even while employers say they’ve scaled back on benefits for both full-time and part-time workers.
The U.S. Census Bureau estimates about 14% of Idaho residents didn’t have health insurance last year. That number is about the same as estimates from 2004.
But while the number of uninsured residents in Idaho hasn’t changed during the past four years, surveys also show that employers are offering less health benefits to workers.
Last year, a survey of 1,500 Idaho employers showed 63% offered some form of health insurance to full-time workers. In 2005, nearly 75% of those employers offered at least some health insurance to full-time workers.
Last year, Idaho employers offered medical coverage to only 9% of their part-time workers last year. That’s also down from 2005, when nearly 20% offered benefits to these employees. (AP)