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Consumer Protection Reports
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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.
• 78% of small businesses who do not offer coverage would like to do so.
• 80% of those owners who would like to offer coverage cite cost as a barrier
• 17% of those owners who would like to offer coverage say that they do not offer coverage because it is too complicated
• 55% of small businesses offering coverage do so to attract and retain good employees
• 27% of small businesses offering coverage do so to increase worker productivity
• Only 24% of owners surveyed felt that their interests were represented in the current health reform 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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