Health Care Reform Good for Ohio Small Businesses?
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November 11, 2009
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The U.S. House has done its part to advance the President's top domestic priority by passing a health care overhaul bill, and the debate now moves to the Senate.
One item of contention is expected to be the effects of health care reform legislation on small businesses. Some critics claim the current proposals would increase costs for most, while others say health care reform would help small businesses by relieving their rising, and often unpredictable, health insurance rates.
Cincinnati-area small business owner Gary Fisher says he's seen premium increases of up to 25 percent for some of his employees.
"In our case, not only have the premiums skyrocketed, but the coverage we have keeps diminishing as premiums go up, as we try to keep it affordable. So, even though we have had coverage the last few years, our group as a whole has been mostly underinsured."
Recent research from the Small Business Majority, a nonpartisan, nonprofit coalition of small business owners, has concluded that the legislation would benefit smaller firms in two ways: It would reduce premium increases over the next ten years through tax credits that would help provide health insurance for employees; and employees of small businesses who don't provide insurance could benefit from the availability of lower-cost individual policies.
Fisher believes the House proposal also would help smaller companies compete more effectively with larger ones, in terms of attracting and retaining workers and keeping costs down.
"Even larger businesses have trouble competing with companies based in other countries, where health insurance is universal and given, and isn't such an onerous cost on those companies."
Col Owens, co-chair of the group Ohio Consumers for Health Coverage, points out that the majority of jobs are being created by small companies. So, he says, it is important to help them survive.
"Small business is a major economic engine of our economy and, at the same time, they have the most difficult time providing insurance to people, because they have these small pools, where one sick person can just throw the premiums up for everybody."
The Senate is expected to begin debate on its health care bill as early as Monday. The research results can be found online at www.smallbusinessmajority.org.