Newsletter

Health insurance coverage: How to make it affordable for individuals and businesses

Miller, Sandy

2007

Overview

According to the 2005 Idaho Fringe Benefits Survey from Idaho Commerce and Labor, there wasn't much difference between the percentages of medium and large businesses when it came to providing health plans to their full-time employees. More than93 percent of businesses with 50 to 99 employees offered health insurance benefits to their full-time employees in 2005; more than 95 percent of businesses with 100 to 249 employees offered health insurance; and more than 96 percent of businesses with 250 or more employees offered health insurance benefits. Rapidly rising insurance premiums are causing even large employers to shift more of the costs to their workers. And some employers are just dropping insurance benefits altogether, which adds even more people to the ranks of the uninsured and to the Medicaid rolls. Meanwhile, the insured end up paying the costs of the uninsured through even higher premiums, until they can no longer afford to and also end up in the ranks of the uninsured or on Medicaid. According to the 2005 Idaho Fringe Benefits Survey from Idaho Commerce and Labor, there wasn't much difference between the percentages of medium and large businesses in providing health plans. Significantly fewer small employers, those with fewer than 10 employees, offered health insurance.

• Publisher: Tribune Content Agency LLC
• Subject: Ashenbrener, Tom / Employees / Employers / Health insurance / Insurance coverage / Insurance premiums / Medicaid / Swensen, Ben / Uninsured people