Forty-one percent of small business owners said the rising cost of health insurance has caused them to increase prices of goods and services, according to a survey from Small Business for America's Future.
Small Business for America’s Future interviewed 1,209 small-business owners in its network between Sept. 27 and Oct. 13 about the effect the cost of healthcare coverage has on their business.
Five findings:
1. Ninety-five percent of small-business owners said they have seen the cost of health insurance increase over the past four years, and 56 percent estimate the yearly increase of their healthcare costs is 10 percent or higher.
2. Thirty-seven percent of respondents said they do not offer health insurance, and rising costs put doing so further out of reach.
3. Thirty percent said rising costs caused them to change which health insurance plans they offer employees to ones with more cost sharing, such as high-deductible health plans.
4. Twenty-seven percent said rising costs caused them to shift more insurance costs to their employees.
5. Of respondents who said they do not provide health insurance to their employees, 78 percent said it was because the cost of doing so is too high.