SURVEYDESIGNANDMETHODS firm’sprimarylocationratherthanwhereallworkersmayactuallybeemployed. Somemid-andlarge-sizeemployershave employeesinmorethanonestate,sothelocationoftheheadquartersmaynotmatchthelocationoftheplanforwhichwe collectedpremiuminformation. FigureM.4displaysthedistributionofthenation’sfirms,workers,andcoveredworkers(employeesreceivingcoveragefrom their employer). Amongthethreemillionfirmsnationally,approximately60.5%employ3to9workers;suchfirmsemploy 7.8%ofworkers,and3.1%ofworkerscoveredbyhealthinsurance. Incontrast,lessthanonepercentoffirmsemploy5,000or moreworkers;thesefirmsemploy35.5%ofworkersand39.9%ofcoveredworkers. Therefore,thesmallestfirmsdominateany statistics weighted by the numberofemployers. Forthisreason,moststatisticsaboutfirmsarebrokenoutbysizecategories. In contrast, firms with 1,000 or more workers are the most influential employer groupincalculatingstatisticsregardingcovered workers,sincetheyemploythelargestpercentageofthenation’sworkforce. The Kaiser Family Foundation and Health Research & Educational Trust / Page 19