Health Benefits Offer Rates

The percentage of firms offering health benefits in 2009 is not significantly different from the percentage in 2008. Nearly all large firms (200 or more workers) offer health benefits; small firms (3-199 workers) are significantly less likely to do so.

The offer rate represents information on firms that are still in business and does not account for firms that have gone out of business due to the economic recession.

• In 2009, sixty percent of firms offer health benefits, which is not statistically different from the 63% reported in 2008 (Exhibit 2.1).
  
  
  • Ninety-eight percent of large firms (200 or more workers) offer health benefits in 2009, not statistically different from 2008 (Exhibit 2.2). In contrast, only 59% of small firms (3-199 workers) offer health benefits in 2009, also not statistically different from the 62% reported in 2008.
    
    
  • Between 1999 and 2009, the offer rate for large firms (200 or more workers) has not dropped below 98%. Among small firms (3-199 workers), the offer rate has varied from a high of 68% in 2000 to 59% in 2005, 2007 and 2009. These variations are driven primarily by changes in the percentages of the smallest firms (3-9 workers) offering health benefits.
    
    
• Offer rates vary across different types of firms.
  
  
  • The smallest firms are least likely to offer health insurance. Only 46% of firms with 3 to 9 workers offer coverage, compared to 72% of firms with 10 to 24 workers, 87% of firms with 25 to 49 workers (Exhibit 2.3), and over 95% of firms with 50 or more employees.
    
    
  • Firms with fewer lower-wage workers (less than 35% of workers earn $23,000 or less annually) are significantly more likely to offer health insurance than firms with many lower-wage workers (35% or more of workers earn $23,000 or less annually). Sixty-four percent of firms with fewer lower-wage workers offer health benefits, compared with only 39% of firms with many lower-wage workers (Exhibit 2.4).
    
    
  • Firms with fewer part-time workers (less than 35% of employees work part-time) are also significantly more likely to offer coverage to their workers than firms with many part-time workers. Among firms with fewer part-time workers, 67% offer health insurance, compared to 32% of firms with a higher percentage of part-time workers (Exhibit 2.4).
    
    
  • Firms that employ at least some union workers are much more likely than firms without union workers to offer health benefits to their employees. Ninety-seven percent of firms with some union workers offer health benefits, compared to 57% of firms that do not have union employees (Exhibit 2.4).
    
    
• Among firms offering health benefits, relatively few offer benefits to their part-time and temporary workers.
  
  
  • In 2009, 31% of all firms that offer health benefits offer them to part-time workers (Exhibit 2.5). Firms with 200 or more workers are more likely to offer health benefits to part-time employees than firms with 3 to 199 workers (48% vs. 30%).
    
    
  • A very small percentage (3%) of firms offering health benefits offer them to temporary workers (Exhibit 2.6).

Domestic Partner Benefits

• As in the past, we asked firms if they offer health benefits to opposite-sex or same-sex domestic partners. However, for the 2008 and 2009 surveys, we changed the response options because during early tests of the 2008 survey, several firms noted that they had not encountered the issue, indicating that the responses of “yes,” “no,” and “don’t know” were insufficient. Therefore, last year we added the response option “not applicable/not encountered” to better capture the number of firms that report not having a policy on the issue.
  
  
  • In response to the question asking firms if they offer health benefits to unmarried opposite-sex partners, 31% of firms report offering health benefits to unmarried opposite-sex domestic partners. An additional 36% of firms report that they have not encountered the issue or that the question was not applicable, with 37% of small firms (3-199 workers) more likely to report this compared to 6% of large firms (200 or more workers) (Exhibit 2.7).
    
    
  • In response to the question asking firms if they offer health benefits to unmarried same-sex domestic partners, 21% of firms offer health benefits to unmarried same-sex domestic partners. An additional 44% of firms report that they have not encountered the issue or that the question was not applicable, with 46% of small firms (3-199 workers) and 6% of large firms (200 or more workers) reporting that they have not encountered the issue or that the question was not applicable (Exhibit 2.8).
    
    
  • Firms in the West are more likely (41%) and firms in the South are less likely (6%) to offer health benefits to unmarried same-sex domestic partners than firms in other regions.
    

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