47% of Private-Sector Employers Provide Health Insurance

Only 47 percent of private-sector businesses provided health insurance for their employees in 2017, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute. This is well below the 56 percent of 2008, but higher than the 45 percent of 2016. By size of establishment, this is the percentage of businesses that offer health insurance...

Percent of establishments offering health insurance to employees, 2017
Less than 10 employees: 23.5%
10 to 24 employees: 49.2%
25 to 99 employees: 74.6%
100 to 999 employees: 96.3%
1,000 or more employees: 99.3%

One factor behind the decline in the provision of employer-provided health insurance since 2008, says EBRI, was the introduction of the Affordable Care Act. The ACA allowed those working for smaller establishments to get health insurance in the marketplace. A factor behind the increase in the provision of health insurance between 2016 and 2017, says EBRI, is the low unemployment rate. The provision of health insurance has become a tool for recruiting and retaining workers in a tight labor market.

Source: Employee Benefit Research Institute, After Years of Erosion, More Employers are Offering Health Coverage; Worker Eligibility Higher