The #1 Issue for NFIB Members for over 30 years
For more than 30 years the cost of healthcare has been the number one cause of concern for NFIB members, and in the 2016 version of Small Business Problems and Priorities, it remains so.
The report is a result of a large sample of small-business owners, all members of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), who are sent a mail questionnaire. The questionnaire presents 75 potential business problems, encountered in the private marketplace and from government regulatory activities. Respondents are asked to rate the severity of each potential problem on a scale of 1 to 7 anchored by “Critical Problem” on one end and “Not a Problem” on the other.
The cost of health insurance remains the most severe problem for small-business owners and is “critical” for 52 percent of respondents, unchanged from 2012. https://www.nfib.com/assets/NFIB-Problems-and-Priorities-2016.pdf
The 9 next most severe problems for small-business owners of the 75 business problems assessed are in order: “Unreasonable Government Regulations,” “Federal Taxes on Business Income,” “Uncertainty over Economic Conditions,” “Tax Complexity,” “Uncertainty over Government Actions,” “Frequent Changes in Federal Tax Laws and Rules,” “Property Taxes (real, inventory or personal property),” “State Taxes on Business Income,” and “Locating Qualified Employees.”
Recently, two NFIB members in Ohio told their stories of how the rising cost of healthcare has impacted their businesses. Tom Secor, owner of Durable Corporation, in Norwalk, and Kelly Moore, owner of GKM Auto Parts in Zanesville, spoke with the New York Times and the PBS NewsHour.
Tom told the New York Times about how he felt every year renewing his policy for his 37 employees felt like gambling. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/26/business/obamacare-repeal-small-businesses.html?_r=0
Kelly in a taped interview with the PBS NewsHour relayed what a terrible feeling it was to finally have to tell her employees at the end of 2016 that she could no longer afford to offer a healthcare plan. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/gop-health-bill-dramatically-change-lives-small-business-employees-medicaid-recipients/
In early March NFIB members joined their fellow small business owners in a listening session with Vice President Pence in Cincinnati, Ohio, specifically on healthcare reform.
NFIB continues to be a proponent of the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. We were disappointed when the effort stalled in Congress in March. https://www.nfib.com/content/press-release/healthcare/nfib-failure-to-pass-ahca-is-a-major-disappointment-to-small-business/
