04/ 02/ 2008
by NFIB President Todd Stottlemyer
In the last issue of MyBusiness, we announced our 10 Principles for Small Business Healthcare Reform, and I promised you in this space that you would be hearing more from us about how we will address your most important problem. In this issue, you can read a lot more on exactly that topic as we tell you about our national “Solutions Start Here” campaign, beginning on page 26.
You've been telling us about your healthcare problems for many years now. We know you're paying almost 20 percent more than large businesses pay for the same benefits. We know that you desperately want access to affordable, quality coverage, and stability in your year-to-year premium increases.
Premiums have risen 100 percent since the year 2000, and healthcare costs are far outpacing wage increases. At the same time, employer-based health insurance is on the decline and, most importantly, 27 million of those uninsured today are working in the small business community.
This situation is neither sustainable nor acceptable. While the status quo may work for some, it absolutely does not work for small business.
As you know, there have been no successful attempts to achieve meaningful healthcare reform since 1994, and you may ask why we believe the time is now. Quite simply, the political climate has changed. States such as Tennessee and Massachusetts have passed their own reform laws, while others, including California, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Illinois have proposed their own plans. While we support some state efforts and have opposed others, the point is, a piecemeal approach is not an answer. We need broad, sweeping changes at the national level to make quality healthcare affordable for small business.
Of course, this is also a presidential election year. All of the candidates have promised some type of healthcare reform if they win the White House. They also are realizing the power of this issue, as well as its importance to the small business voting bloc. And you are a viable, powerful bloc. As you can read on page 29, we did post-Super Tuesday election polling that showed that small business owners like you account for approximately 11 percent of all registered voters nationally. When you include employees, the small business sector swells to nearly 32 percent of the electorate. In fact, small business owners alone make up close to the same percentage of voters as union voters (about 12 percent).
On Super Tuesday, the small business voting segment was as large as or larger than many voting segments traditionally covered by the media, such as unions and veterans. And it was a large segment in both the Republican and Democratic primaries. What's more, the polling showed that you believe healthcare is one of the top three most important issues in the campaign, along with the economy and the Iraq war.
It's time your voice is heard loud and clear, and that is the purpose of our campaign. The next president and Congress must understand that we are serious about healthcare reform and that they need to be equally serious about addressing it in 2009. And when they do, they will remember America's job creators and know that, as our tagline says, “When Healthcare is Fixed for Small Business, it's Fixed for America.”
