By AP/KWMU
St. Louis, MO – A new study finds employers who provide health insurance to the working spouses of their employees had extra health care costs of $891 million this year in Missouri.
The Missouri Foundation for Health hired a professor from Emory University to conduct the study.
It found the smallest companies -- those with fewer than ten employees -- were most likely to have workers relying on their spouse's insurance plan.
And those employers saved nearly $2,800 per employee by not helping with health insurance costs.
MFH says the results show smaller companies are finding it harder to offer insurance, and those that do are bearing a greater load -- which could result in reduced benefits or lost jobs.