The 2006 Union Bank of California Small Business Survey found that more than half of California’s small business owners do not provide their employees with health care coverage.
For the first time in the survey’s six-year history, a majority of California’s employers (52 percent) indicated they do not offer health care coverage to employees. For those employers who do offer a health care plan, 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.