Excerpt: Researchers looking at the reasons why employers offer coverage have identified a variety of factors. These include both employee characteristics, such as earnings, occupation, part-time versus full-time status, union status, gender, and age, and employer characteristics, such as geographic region, industry, and firm and establishment size. This issue brief looks at a less well-understood factor that may also affect an employer's decision to offer health benefits: how long a business has been operating. We show that, among smaller and mid-sized establishments, the likelihood of offering coverage is associated with the age of the business.  MORE >>