Small businesses offering health insurance declined in 2015, the year of the latest data available, according to the StarTribune.
These stats, which come from a University of Minnesota report, show the offer rate fell to under 30 percent.
This isn’t just a Minnesota problem, either. Nationally, the offer rate for businesses with fewer than 50 employees was 29.4 percent in 2015, dropping from 32.2 percent in 2014 and 35.7 percent in 2011.
“The findings may be partially explained by large employers adding coverage benefits to meet the rules of the Affordable Care Act, while small employers may have shed some employees or reduced hours to remain under the threshold where offering health insurance benefits is required,” the researchers said in a news release.
The University’s State Health Access Data Assistance Center compiled the report, with financial help from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
“Employer-sponsored coverage is the main source of healthcare coverage for Americans,” Kathy Hempstead, senior adviser to the executive vice president at the foundation, said in a statement. “Trends in this market segment continue to be stable overall, despite some decline in offer rates among smaller firms.”
When it comes to family coverage, the average annual premium for family coverage in Minnesota was $16,925 in 2015, with employees, on average, covering 30 percent of the premium costs. Nationally, however, the average annual premium for family coverage was at $17,322, with employees covering, on average, 27.2 percent of the premium costs.
But to compensate for these lower premiums, Minnesota has much higher deductibles.
