Over all, including small (three to 199 workers) and large (200 or more workers) firms, 53 percent of employers now offer dental benefits, up from 31 percent in 2000.
Additional findings from the survey include:
- Roughly half (52 percent) of small firms offer dental benefits now, up from 30 percent in 2000.
- The number of large firms that offer dental also increased to 88 percent from 60 percent.
- In the Midwest, 60 percent of firms offer dental.
- In the South, 59 percent of firms offer dental.
- In the Northeast, 46 percent of firms offer dental.
- In the West, 45 percent of firms offer dental.
- Firms not offering health benefits continue to cite “cost” as the most important reason they do not offer health benefits (32 percent).
The Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research & Educational Trust conducted this annual survey of employer-sponsored health benefits, interviewing 2,052 firms.
