CCS Research Project Reports

December 2009

REPORT: SOME TENNESSEE SERVICE INDUSTRY WORKERS, THE YOUNG, GET LESS HEALTH CARE COVERAGE AT WORK (PDF)

They’re on the frontline of the workday world – filling our coffee cups, trimming our locks, holding Sunday open houses – but workers in some service industry jobs in Tennessee are at a higher risk of not having access to health care coverage through their employers, says a survey conducted by researchers from Vanderbilt Peabody College and the Tennessee Small Business Coalition. In addition, young and part-time workers in Tennessee are more likely to miss out on this coveted job benefit, and businesses with fewer employees and gross revenues under $1 million are less likely to offer it.

In the study, Tennessee's Small Businesses and Factors Influencing Health Insurance Coverage, survey respondents cited expense as the key reason for not offering their employees a health care plan. And less than half of the small businesses – 44 percent – agreed that businesses have a responsibility to offer health insurance to their employees, while those currently offering a plan were much more likely to see negative impacts from not providing that coverage.

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July 2009

REPORT: TENNESSEE'S SMALL BUSINESSES SUPPORT HEALTH CARE REFORM, STRUGGLE WITH COSTS (PDF)

With Congress debating how to reform America's health care system, a new survey report reveals that Tennessee's small-business owners, including the self-employed, are struggling to afford health care coverage and have strong opinions about how health reform should be shaped. The report, American Health Care Reform: Serious Business for Tennessee's Small Businesses, details small-business owners' concerns and preferences for reform.

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