Many more American workers with employer-provided health insurance are unhappy
with changes to their health insurance than are unhappy with changes to their
salary or retirement benefits, according to a new Harris Interactive poll conducted
for the Wall Street Journal.
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- Only 17 percent said that their health insurance has been getting better,
whereas 24 percent said that retirement benefits were getting better and 53
percent said their salary has improved. Significantly, three times as many
said that their salary has improved compared with their health insurance.
- Fully 42 percent of insured employees said that their health insurance has
been getting worse compared to only 17 percent and 24 percent who felt this
way about their pay and retirement benefits.
While most respondents (66 percent) said a decent pay raise is more important
than maintaining or improving healthcare benefits next year, if faced with a choice, a
56 percent majority favored having no pay increase but retaining current health
insurance benefits over getting a decent pay increase and having a significant
reduction in their health insurance benefits.
Fewer younger workers would make the same choice. Fully 45 percent of workers
aged 25 to 29 said they would choose the pay increase.