Orange County Register

Health insurance costs have risen 7 percent or more this year at almost half the small businesses surveyed recently by the National Association of Professional Employer Organziations.

“Soaring health costs hit small businesses especially hard, and these businesses employ the vast majority of workers,” said Vic Tannon, chief executive of Emplicity, a professional employer group in Irvine. “This (survey) is another wake-up call.”

Here’s the breakdown of response to the question, To what extent have your costs for employee health insurance increased this year:

Significantly, the price increases have owners looking at alternatives, the survey found. Almost 29 percent are at least entertaining the idea of dropping health coverage and 4 percent are virtually certain to eliminate this cost.

“This is an extremely troubling development, not just for small businesses and their workers, but the entire economy,” Tanon said.

Click here to read the entire survey.

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