8 | Business World Magazine |
March 2014
EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
LEADING OFF
NEWNSBA HEALTH CARE SURVEY: COSTSARE ISSUE NO. 1
91 percent of small businesses report health plan increases
The National Small Business Association’s
2014 Small Business Health Care Survey
shows how America’s small businesses are
dealing with rising health care costs, what
kind of benefits they offer and how the Af-
fordable Care Act is impacting their busi-
ness. Most notably, 91 percent reported
increases in their health plan at their most
recent health insurance renewal with one in
four being hit with increases exceeding 20
percent.
“Cost is the No. 1 driver of whether or
not a small business will offer health insur-
ance,” NSBA President Todd McCracken
said. “These costs have real-world implica-
tions: One-third of small businesses held off
on hiring a new employee and more than
half say they held off on salary increases for
employees.”
Among the key findings of the NSBA sur-
vey: While the majority of employers think
offering health insurance is very important
to recruiting good employees, just 51 percent
of the smallest firms offer health benefits.
Among the 70 percent of small firms overall
that do offer health insurance, the majority
report paying for more than half of the cost
of their employees’ plans.
The average monthly per-employee cost
of health insurance premiums for a small
