The U.S. Department of Labor issued its annual report on self-insured group health plans. The report, which is mandated under the Affordable Care Act, uses data from 2014 Plan Year Form 5500 and financial filings of employers that offer self-funded health coverage.
Some of the findings are as follows.
- Approximately 20,000 self-insured health plans and 1,100 multi-employer plans filed a 2014 form 5500.
- 33 million participants participated in a self-insured health plan in 2014 (29 million active participants).
- Self-funded health plans covered a larger number of participants than insured plans.
- Of the 3500 new health plans filed in 2014, 30% were self-funded, 67% were insured, and 3% were mixed.
Since the report uses self-reported Form 5500 information, and since there are different ways of reporting on Form 5500, the DOL cautions that the results may not be a complete reflection of the health plan population.
