Steady Decline in Health Benefits Offered

60% of companies offered health coverage to workers in 2005, down from 66% in 2003 and 69% in 2000. The decline can mostly be found in small businesses, with nearly 98% of firms with 200 or more employees offering coverage. “It is low-wage workers who are being hurt the most by the steady drip, drip, drip of coverage draining out of the employer based health insurance system,” Kaiser Family Foundation President and CEO Drew E. Altman, Ph.D., said. (Source: Kaiser Family Foundation and Health Research and Education Trust)