Print copies of this data brief are available by contacting Jason Sanford. Please include complete contact information (including organization name, mail address, zip code, and phone number), along with how many copies are needed.

Health Coverage and Employee Firm Size Data Brief

Download Data Brief for October 26, 2006
(October 2006, pdf format, 842 KB)
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The larger the number of employees a firm has, the more likely its employees will have health care coverage,while self-employed workers have an extremely high chance of being uninsured.

In 2004, a majority of workers (71.0%) between 18 and 64 years of age received health insurance from their direct employer while 75.7% of workers (or 3,683,000 Ohioans) received coverage through either their direct employer or through a family member’s employment. Overall, 63.5% (4,456,000) of all Ohioans, working and not working, between the ages of 18 and 64 had their health coverage through their own or a family member’s employer (Chart 1), with 39.6% of those not working securing insurance through a work-related coverage plan. If the employee was covered, 87% of the time the employee’s family was covered.

This data brief examines the 2004 Ohio Family Health Survey to see how the number of employees a firm has relates to health coverage rates for various Ohio subpopulations. Key findings include:

• Workers in firms with less than 50 employees (the independently employed and small firms) had higher uninsured rates (19.3%) than employees in firms with 50 or more employees (6.3%), 305,000 and 175,000 Ohio workers, respectively;
• Workers in smaller firms (< 50 employees) who held part-time employment were more likely to be uninsured—23.3% of part-time workers in smaller firms were uninsured;
• Younger workers, across all firm size categories, experienced higher uninsured rates (17.2%) than middle-aged or older workers (8.0%), 303,000 and 250,000 workers, respectively;
• Minority workers, across all firm sizes, were more likely to be uninsured—17.3% of minority workers were uninsured versus 10.4% of White workers (11.4% of all workers were uninsured);
• Workers who dropped out of high school were much more likely to be uninsured, particularly within smaller firms (< 50 employees)—37.0% of high school dropouts working for smaller firms were uninsured, compared to 13.4% for dropouts working for larger firms;
• Workers in smaller firms (< 50 employees) who reported low annual household incomes (below 201% of the Federal Poverty Level) had significantly higher uninsured rates than larger firms—38.7% of low income workers in smaller firms were uninsured (196,000);
• Workers reporting being in poor-to-fair health who worked in smaller firms (< 50 employees) were much more likely to be uninsured (34.8%) than workers in poor to fair health in larger firms (22.8%).
• Workers within Ohio’s 29 Appalachian counties, across all firm sizes, were more likely to be uninsured, with 14.0% of all Appalachian workers lacking insurance.

For more information on this data brief, including complete breakdowns of these statistics and more information on the 2004 Ohio Family Health Survey, download the data brief above.