03/26/2008
The Kaiser Family Foundation recently released results from an analysis showing a significant increase in employers' healthcare costs over the past six years. The report is an in-depth look at a problem that continues to slam small business owners and their employees.
The study, released online as part of a new series on healthcare costs, found that from 1999 to 2005, costs for employers providing healthcare benefits to employees rose by nearly a dollar to an average of $2.59 per hour. The Kaiser Family Foundation also notes that from 2001 to 2007, health insurance premiums have swelled 78 percent, a much greater increase than the 19 percent cumulative wage growth over the same time period.
The report also looks at how average health insurance costs climbed according to business size, finding that when calculated as a share of payroll, small businesses have not escaped the skyrocketing increases. From 1999 to 2005, small businesses were affected accordingly:
- 25 or fewer employees: 42 percent increase
- 26-50 employees: 33 percent increase
- 51-100 employees: 37 percent increase
The report comes on the heels of NFIB's recently launched aggressive healthcare reform campaign, Solutions Start Here. Paired with our 10 Principles for Healthcare Reform, the campaign challenges policymakers to deliver real and meaningful reform for small business. We know that as America's No. 1 job creator, when healthcare is fixed for small business, it's fixed for America.
