Number of small businesses offering health insurance drops 10%

The number of Colorado small businesses providing health benefits to their employees in 2010 fell 10 percent from the year before, according to a report from the Colorado Division of Insurance.

In the last decade, the number of Coloradans with health insurance from a small business employer dropped 50 percent from 537,996 in 2000 to 267,411 in 2010.

Although the recession has played a role in the decline, Postolowski said other factors have contributed as well.

The small-group market is made up of employers who provide employee health coverage through a Colorado regulated health benefit plan and have no more than 50 eligible employees in Colorado for at least half of the year. It also includes employers with only one employee, known as Business Groups of One.

The number of Business Groups of One in 2010 declined by 15 percent to 9,131 from 10,693 the year before, according to the report.

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