The primary reason for the decline in the number of small businesses providing health insurance appears to be that owners of new firms are reluctant to introduce health benefits, according to a National Federation of Independent Business Small-Business Poll.

The poll on purchasing health insurance found that 52% of small-business owners do not offer either employee health insurance or an insurance purchase subsidy. "It's much better for employee morale if a small-business owner never offers health benefits, than it is to offer them and then be forced to take it away because it is too expensive to continue," said the NFIB's William Dennis.

Also, the survey showed that agents and brokers did not raise the subject of HSAs in 59% of cases involving their discussion of employee health insurance with small employers. Those small employers offering coverage had deductibles averaging $929 in 2005, compared to large firms with $566. Clearly small businesses need to know about the HSA option.