More Than a Quarter of Colorado Workers Lack Access to Employer-Based Health Insurance

According to a report released Aug. 3 by the Colorado Coalition for the Medically Underserved, 28.1% of the state's full-time workers lack access to health insurance subsidized by their employer, the Colorado Springs Gazette reports. The majority of those without access to employer-based plans work for firms with fewer than 100 employees, which employ 43.2% of the state's workforce and 58.7% of Colorado's uninsured workers, the study found. Taking employer contributions and employee premiums into account, health insurance costs on average $150 to $200 a month for a single employee and $500 to $600 a month for employees with families. "Insurance is very expensive, and it is tough for small businesses to be able to afford to offer that to their employees," Peg O'Keefe, the coalition's vice chair, said. Employer insurance premiums rose 10% to 19% last year, according to the report. The report also found that small businesses that do offer health insurance usually do not offer a choice of plans. Only 10.7% of firms with 50 or fewer employees and 52.6% of larger firms offered a choice of more than one health plan. The coalition, a consortium of more than 200 organizations and individuals that seeks to achieve statewide health insurance by 2007, culled the data from 1997-1999 census figures and a medical-expenditure survey of state businesses (Radford, Colorado Springs Gazette, 8/3).