Half of Small-Business Workers Face Higher Risk of Losing Coverage
By: Brian Snyder | Source: CCH News Library [via Wolters Kluwer]
November 6, 2009 10:26AM EST
Employees of small businesses are 50 percent more likely to lose coverage as workers at large businesses, according to a recent report released jointly by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Small Business Administration (SBA). In addition, the report . . . found that half of workers in small firms that do not offer health benefits remain uninsured. “More Americans who work for a small business have lost their health insurance coverage, and those who still have coverage have seen their costs go up,” said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. “Health insurance reform will drive costs down and make it easier for small business owners to give their employees the quality coverage they need.” The survey also found that: • Fewer small businesses are providing coverage to their employees. In 2000, 57 percent of firms employing less than ten workers provided coverage. In 2009, only 46 percent of these firms provided coverage. The rest of the story . . . . RELATED: National Association of Insurance Commissioners push for reforms to make small-employer coverage more stable. The story . . . .
• Nearly one-fourth of the uninsured -- 11 million people -- are employees of firms with fewer than 25 workers, even though they only make up approximately one-tenth of the nonelderly population.
• Almost three-fourths of small businesses that did not offer benefits cited high premiums as the reason, and on average, small businesses pay up to 18 percent more than large firms for the same health coverage.
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