Small business owners recognizing healthcare is important recruitment and retention tool

Since 2008, the percentage of employers with 1,000 or more employees offering healthcare coverage has been consistently near or above 99%.  It reached 99.8% in 2016.  But smaller firms have shown a steady, though not precipitous, decline in offer rates. For the smallest employers studied, those with fewer than 10 employees, the offer rate declined from 22.7% in 2015 to 21.7% in 2016.  

But over the last year, perhaps with the strengthening economy and lower unemployment rates, there is evidence of what may be a rebound in employment-based coverage offer rates among firms with 10-999 employees. More specifically, from 2015-2016: for employers with 10–24 employees, those offering health benefits increased from 48.9% to 49.4%; for employers with 25–99 employees, those offering health benefits increased from 73.5% to 74.6%; and for employers with 100 to 999 employees, those offering health benefits increased from 95.1% to 96.3%. For these larger employers, this trend actually began a year earlier, when the offer rate increased from 92.5% in 2014 to 95.1% in 2015.

The small group rates for Blue Cross® Blue Shield® of Michigan and Blue Care Network health, dental and vision plans are more competitive than ever.

That means that right now is the perfect time to take a look at the trusted coverage of the Blues – combined with the supplemental life, disability, accident and hospital recovery insurance also available through SBAM.