Small Firms Shoulder Burden of Increasing Health Costs

This article shows that the problem in this country is not the people without health insurance. The problem is that the cost of health insurance for those that provide insurance for their employees is getting too high. A nationalized health insurance program will do nothing to bring costs down. If we do more as a nation to bring the cost of health care down, then we will be in a position to offer more plans to more people. The number of 47 million uninsured is misleading because of how the number is calculated. If a person went for one day of a year without health insurance, they are included in that number. The problem is the rising costs. This article goes over the costs for small businesses.

Small Firms Shoulder Burden of Increasing Health Costs

FRIDAY, April 4 (HealthDay News) -- The economic burden of providing health insurance for employees increased more for small U.S. businesses than for larger businesses from 2000 to 2005, but most small businesses have not stopped offering the benefit, a new study finds.

The study, released Friday by the Rand Corp., of more than 2,500 small, medium and large companies found that small businesses (fewer than 25 employees) were hit with a 30 percent increase in the cost of providing health insurance. Their share of offering employee health insurance increased from an average of 8.4 percent of their payroll in 2000 to 10.8 percent of payroll by 2005.

Health insurance costs increased 16 percent for companies with 25 to 49 employees, and increased 25 percent for businesses with 50 to 99 workers.

While small companies were less likely than large businesses to provide health insurance, the small businesses that did offer the benefit were no more likely than large businesses to stop providing the benefit.

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