Microbusinesses say it’s getting harder to offer employee health insurance

June 20th, 2008 at 12:27pm Deborah Austin

The percentage of microbusinesses who offer employee health insurance has declined nationwide since 2005, according to a recent survey by the National Association for the Self-Employed (NASE). High costs still are the biggest barrier, the businesses said.

The association classifies microbusinesses as those with 10 or fewer employees. It surveyed 4,000 of the companies this year as a followup to a 2005 survey on the same topic.

Some of the results:

* This year, only 18.6 percent of the responding businesses said they offer health insurance coverage for their employees, down from 46.2 percent in 2005.

*  Conversely, companies with gross sales under $50,000 saw the greatest increase in health insurance coverage. Of 2008 respondents, 40 percent said they offer employee health insurance compared with 13.8 percent in 2005.

* More than 65 percent of responding companies said cost was the most significant barrier to offering that insurance.

You can see a more detailed summary of the survey here. 

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