The Importance of Employee Health Benefits to Public and Private Sector Organizations

Abstract

This article examines the importance benefits managers attach to employer-sponsored health benefits in the United States. The study compared the perceived importance of health benefits offered to employees in the public and private sectors as seen through the lens of their benefits managers. The source of the data for the analysis was a national survey of health benefits conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Education Research Trust. The results demonstrate that public sector managers view health benefits as more important to their organizations than do private sector managers. The findings also demonstrate that characteristics of existing plans, organizational attributes, and types of managed care plans have an impact on the importance that benefits managers attach to health benefits. An implication of this study is that employee satisfaction and productivity can be enhanced with the provision of health benefits. This finding is especially the case for public sector employees.