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Health insurance offered by fewer small employers

Patient Access Weekly Advisor, USA Today, November 21, 2007

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According to a Mercer survey released last week, fewer small employers offered health insurance this year, even with the availability of new, lower-cost insurance plans, USA Today reports.

The high-deductible plans are one solution to the increasing number of uninsured, allowing small employers to continue to offer health insurance.

"That's not happening," says Blaine Bos, a Mercer partner and one of the study authors, USA Today reports. "In fact, the reverse is happening."

According to USA Today, the study, which involved 3,000 employers, revealed that the percentage of companies with 200 employees or fewer offering health insurance of any kind dropped to 61% this year from 63% in 2006.

That drop came even though the cost of high-deductible plans with tax-free savings accounts averaged $5,970 per worker per year-$700 less than a comparable plan without a savings account and much lower than the $7,120 for the typical HMO, the study reports.

To read the story in USA Today, click here.

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