Health Costs a Struggle for Small Businesses
Small business owners across the country are struggling in their efforts to provide working families with health care. The Bradenton Herald noted the troubling trend and the extra burdens small businesses face:
Many local business owners say they cannot provide health insurance to their employees because the cost is prohibitive. Some, like [Sue] Pashley, say they plan to add health insurance in the future, after they have finished expanding and are more fiscally stable. Others say they don't know if they will ever be able to afford it.
"You're seeing small biz owners having to drop coverage altogether or shift the burden over to their employees," says Jim Brown, a spokesman for the National Federation of Independent Business. "It's very frustrating for them because they want to compete with big companies."
Big companies and labor unions spread the cost out over greater numbers, across state lines, and they fall under federal guidelines. Small companies need to meet state mandates, Brown says, which dictate what needs to be included in health coverage.
The article cites a study by the National Federation of Independent Business revealing that in Florida, businesses providing health insurance has declined from 80-percent in 2002 to only 69-percent last year. The costs of health insurance are also skyrocketing, and according to the article, "Nearly half [of respondents] said they pay more than $2,500 per employee per year for health benefits."
The 2004 Democratic Party platform laid out a series of proposals to deal with these issues, aiding small businesses and working families.
Skyrocketing health care costs not only hurt our families; they hurt our economy. American businesses pay more than their competitors for health care, reducing their competitiveness.
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In President George Bush's America, drug company and HMO profits count for more than family and small business health costs. Health care costs increased four times as fast as wages in the last year alone. Prescription drug spending has more than doubled during the past five years. Nearly 82 million Americans went without health care coverage at some point in the last two years.
The platform continued to list a number of solutions for solving the problem, proposing tax credits for individuals and businesses, cutting health care costs, and lifting the financial burden "by picking up the tab for the highest-cost medical cases."
