Survey: Most California small businesses don't offer health insurance

Survey: Most California small businesses don't offer health insurance
Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal - 6:44 AM PST Friday

http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/stories/2006/02/27/daily56.html?f=et79&hbx=e_du

For the first time in its annual survey of small business owners, Union Bank of California reports that more than half said they don't provide care coverage. The San Francisco-based bank said 52 percent of the 2,000 small business owners who participated in its sixth annual survey do not offer health insurance to employees.

Among those who do, 25 percent said that rising costs have caused them to shift larger portions of the health care burden to their employees and to reduce overall health benefits.

Yet health insurance only ranked third among the biggest concerns cited in the survey. The cost of workers' compensation was No. 1 - the third consecutive year it was ranked the top challenge of doing business in California. The percentage who ranked this as their chief worry dropped to 51.2 percent, however, from 66 percent in 2005.

The California economy (34 percent), state and local regulations (32 percent), health care costs (31 percent) and increased taxes (31 percent) rounded out the top five challenges small business owners said they face. The availability of skilled labor has risen to the sixth spot (27 percent), an increase of eight percentage points since 2004.