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Executive Summary
When it comes to health care, American
small business owners are getting a raw
deal. While the current insurance
marketplace offers some options to larger
employers, it too often leaves small business
owners on the outside looking in. They face
unpredictable changes in costs, and far too
often they are forced to choose between
covering employees and the very survival of
their businesses.
One crucial test of any health reform
proposal is whether it offers a better deal to
American small businesses.
But the key
Washington lobbies who claim to represent
small businesses have been historically
aligned with the political interests most
opposed to reform. To more accurately
reflect the diversity of views of small
businesses on health care, the U.S. Public
Interest Research Group has let small
business owners to speak for themselves.
Three hundred and forty-three small
business owners and managers across the
country made their views heard through a
survey which investigated the impact of
health care costs on their businesses.
Survey Results:
Our efforts revealed that small businesses
who do not currently offer coverage would
overwhelmingly like to, but are stymied by
high costs, complications and red tape. We
discovered that those entrepreneurs who do
make the sacrifices necessary to provide
health care consider it less a moral
obligation than a smart business strategy to
increase employee productivity and attract
and retain talented employees. Finally, we
discovered that only a fraction of small
business owners surveyed believed that their
voices were being heard in the current health
care debate.
Benefits of Health Reform:
Successful reform could yield serious
benefits for small businesses and the country
as a whole. Recent analysis by MIT
Professor Jonathan Gruber, commissioned
by the Small Business Majority, found that
health reform would save up to 128,000
small business jobs that would otherwise be
lost due to high health care costs. Achieving
these benefits will require ensuring that
health reform legislation has a mix of
policies that work for small businesses,
including health insurance exchanges,
ending discrimination in issuance, renewal,
and pricing of coverage plans based on
health history, small business tax credits,
and most importantly, a comprehensive
push to reduce the growth in overall health
care spending.
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