Small businesses face huge health insurance costs
02 05 08 - 13:21
Attleboro's Old Barn, an old-fashioned feed store, was on its way out of business when it caught the eye of Bob Bamberg. He had worked in the feed store business long enough to know it held tremendous potential.
He bought the store in 2003 and set about revitalizing it. Today it is a thriving shop offering a large variety of products from pet supplies to food for wild animals.
Despite the turnaround, Bamberg is still unable to offer his employees health insurance. He wants to offer them meaningful and affordable coverage, but with premiums rising by double digits annually, he said he can’t afford to commit to the benefit.
With just six employees, he's currently exempt from the law that mandates employers to provide health insurance, but he expects to grow and is worried about what will happen when he's ready to add more workers.
Stories like this are driving a massive health-care reform campaign launched by the National Federation of Independent Businesses. The multimillion-dollar movement, Fix For America, is the largest the group has ever undertaken.
"We felt we had no choice," said Amanda Austin, the federation's manager of legislative affairs.
There is a growing call for health-care reform nationally, but the voice of small business gets drowned out as big businesses with big bucks call the shots.
"We're not business with a big 'B,' we're businesses with a small 'b,' and it's time to tell our story," Austin said.
Small businesses are driving job growth, and yet they are hit harder by rising health-care costs than big companies. They don't have the leverage to demand lower rates and health care is a bigger percentage of their budgets. Employees in small companies pay an average of 18 percent more than workers in larger companies. Many small companies offer no insurance at all. Of the 47 million Americans without health insurance, 28 million are small business owners, their employees or their dependents.
The NFIB is pushing for reforms such as tax credits or deductions that would make it easier for individuals to buy insurance, taking the pressure off employers. The group also wants the rules changed so businesses can band together across state lines to form pools of employees that would give them more bargaining leverage. Overall, steps should be taken to reduce health-care costs such as introducing more technology.
NFIB leaders are touring the country gathering real-life stories and talking with members about what changes they want. One of the first stops was in Rhode Island last week. More than 40 business leaders came from all over New England.
Bruce Wilbur, owner of Howland Tool and Machine, a plastics injection company in Freetown, said he's glad to have someone in his court.
"They're trying to get us on the same playing field as big businesses," he said.
He offers full coverage to his workers, which he has done since he hired his first employee in 1979. It’s important to him because his workers are more like family than employees.
Still, he wonders how much longer he'll be able to keep up with the rising costs.
"It's always in the back of my mind each year when the renewal comes up," he said. "How do you handle it?"