Small Firm Workers Covered as Dependents by Large Firms
Apr 7th, 2008 | By Dawn R. Rivers | Category: ResearchIn 2005, almost half of employees at small firms who were married to an employee of a large firm are estimated to have been covered as dependents by their spouse’s health insurance benefits plan. This rather intuitive and commonsensical notion is one of the principal findings in a new research report released last week by the SBA Office of Advocacy. Other top findings: large firm employees married to small firm employees often do not shift to being covered as a dependent by that small firm health insurance plan, children are more likely to have coverage when at least one parent works for a large firm and children with two small business employee parents are increasingly covered by insurance not provided by an employer. Besides underscoring the competitive disadvantage for small businesses in the labor market, this research demonstrates that, as fewer folks rely on employers for insurance, more attention needs to be paid to the individual private insurance market.
