04/ 02/ 2008
When healthcare is fixed for small business it's fixed for America
For more than 20 years, healthcare has been the No. 1 issue for small business owners and their employees. As the nation's leading small business association, we recognize that to preserve the strength of America's job creators--small businesses--we must contain the rising cost of healthcare.
Why do solutions start here at NFIB? Because you, our members, are willing and able to put a real face on the healthcare issue to demonstrate the major obstacles faced by you and other small business owners. As risk-takers, innovators and entrepreneurs, you are used to creatively responding to the challenges of the marketplace. That's why you have gone out on your own, because you had an idea no one else had or a way to do things better. You took a chance on yourself and what you could do. Bottom line, small business owners like you provide solutions to problems, and solutions to the healthcare crisis ought to start with small business and NFIB.
To ensure that happens, NFIB is taking steps to demand that the next president and the next Congress provide healthcare solutions based on the unique needs of small business owners and employees. Our message is, no discussion about healthcare should take place without America's small business owners at the table. NFIB conducted a national survey of 1,200 voters, with an emphasis on small business owners and their employees, to better understand how healthcare costs are affecting Americans across the country. Key findings include:
- 32 percent of all Americans and 38 percent of small business voters (those who vote on small business issues) say "healthcare costs and availability" is the most important economic issue.
- Of those small business owners sampled, 81 percent said finding affordable healthcare for themselves and their employees is a challenge.
- 50 percent of small business voters say they anticipate having difficulty keeping up with the cost of healthcare over the next four years.
Solutions Start With NFIB
At a packed press conference in Washington, D.C., we launched the Solutions Start Here campaign on March 12. With NFIB members on hand to share their personal experiences, NFIB President and CEO Todd Stottlemyer said, "The cost of healthcare has reached unmanageable proportions for America's job creators, crushing the success and productivity of small businesses across the country. These businesses are the backbone of the U.S. economy and are disproportionately struggling with healthcare costs because they do not have the coverage options or financial resources of large employers or corporations. This simply cannot continue. It's time to do away with the excuses and start working on the answers, and we know we can be part of the solution."
This national grassroots campaign offers a platform for healthcare reform that supports the needs of small business. The goal is to incorporate the concerns and interests of America's small business community into the healthcare debate and to help lawmakers understand that no real change can come without addressing these concerns.
The first phase of the campaign focuses on demonstrating the strength of small business voters, which began with Super Tuesday polling on Feb. 5. Our results showed that small business owners and their employees are a significant voting segment, equal to or larger than well-established voting blocs like veterans and union members.
We released these findings to the media, pundits and politicians so that they recognize and understand the strength that the small business community brings to the political process.
This sentiment was effectively expressed by one of our members, Jim Henderson, who heads Dynamic Sales Co. Inc. in Berkeley, Mo. Henderson wrote the following in an op-ed that ran in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "Mounting premiums, especially since 1998, have made it impossible to offer our employees the full coverage we once provided. While we do provide health benefits, employees shoulder significant deductibles, while we struggle with premiums that rose steadily at the start of the decade and jumped 25 percent in 2003 alone.
"In Missouri, 49 percent of Republican and 50 percent of Democratic small business owners and their employees who were polled are like me, in that they are having difficulty keeping up with the cost of healthcare. More than ever before, voters like me--small business owners and their employees--are turning out to vote."
NFIB Involvement Spans the Years and Administrations
The Clinton administration proposed a healthcare reform package in 1994 that failed to address the needs of everyday Americans. We were part of a coalition of organizations that spoke out against these reforms. Fortunately, members of Congress agreed with us and the legislation never became law.
Since that time, 10 million have been added to the uninsured ranks. Healthcare costs outpace wages by two-and-a-half times. And GDP healthcare spending has gone from 7 percent to 16 percent.
The reality is, our healthcare system is broken. Every day that passes without a solution, the situation grows worse. Small business owners and their employees are being crushed by premium increases and rising deductibles. Of the 16 million small businesses in this country, fewer than half can afford to offer healthcare coverage due to the cost. In fact, since 2000, premiums have increased 87 percent. Owners and employees are desperate for access to affordable, quality coverage.
Fast forward to 2007, when we unveiled NFIB's guiding principles for healthcare reform. We believe that these 10 principles provide the foundation of any successful healthcare initiative. To help us refine these principles, we held a series of in-depth discussions with key health policy experts and health economists on comprehensive healthcare reform. These conversations led us to initiate two exciting new studies.
We've enlisted a team at George Mason University that includes a Nobel Prize laureate in economics to simulate a set of conditions facing small business owners as they evaluate choices about healthcare. The idea is to gauge the tradeoffs they would have to make to balance the needs of their employees with the needs of their business.
We've also hired the Lewin Group, a well-respected independent healthcare consulting group, to help us better understand how small business responds to different policy ideas, including tax code changes that affect the purchase of health insurance. We want to know how owners will react to potential legislative measures.
Both of these studies will give us further insight into what you, as members, want so that we are better able to dissect, respond and recommend changes to the various legislative proposals that will emerge after the presidential election.
A Call to Action
The second phase of Solutions Start Here will focus on understanding the key aspects of healthcare policy and the impact they have on the small business community, as well as to gather real-life stories that demonstrate the unique needs of America's job creators. We'll take those stories to policymakers to help them understand that the decisions they make shouldn't only consider the needs of major corporations, but also the needs of the small businesses that employ 50 percent of America's workforce. Throughout our campaign, we want to hear from you and your employees, whose voices will be critical to our success.
The kickoff of this campaign will coincide with a series of "Fix-it-Forums," similar to town hall meetings. These forums, which will take place across the country, will provide you and your employees an opportunity to talk about what reform means to you. As small business owners, you will be able to offer your perspective on what solutions will work best. This will help build a groundswell of support for our campaign and our mission of ultimately shaping healthcare reform.
The next phase of our campaign will be about engaging candidates, elected officials and policy leaders. We'll take the voices and the stories we've heard straight to Washington, D.C., and to the people who will shape the future of healthcare in America.
We are evaluating the candidates' proposals to make sure they address the healthcare crisis our country's small business owners face today. We will work to ensure they understand the effect comprehensive healthcare reform can have on the economy. But, most importantly, we will ensure that the unique challenges facing small businesses are addressed during the legislative process.
We expect to catch the candidates' attention. Here's why: A recent national survey we conducted shows that when it comes time to elect the next president, small business voters will be thinking about healthcare.
- 80 percent agree that it is important to vote for a presidential candidate whose healthcare plan makes sense for small business.
- 69 percent agree that how the presidential candidates' healthcare plans will impact small business is an important factor in determining who to vote for.
- 31 percent agree that it is the most important factor in determining their vote.
But we can't do it without you. With your help and your personal stories, we believe this campaign can effectively spur our nation's policymakers and political leaders to start working together to take on America's healthcare crisis. We urge you to visit www.FixedforAmerica.com and add your voice, because you have a right to be heard. And don't forget to ask others to join the fight as well.
By doing so, you help show that America's healthcare solutions start with entrepreneurs such as Thomas Johnson, an NFIB member and furniture store owner in Virginia. They start with Jim Henderson from Missouri, NFIB member, op-ed writer and small business owner. And they start with Phyllis Burlage from Maryland, an NFIB member who owns Burlage Associates PA. These are the types of job creators who are on the front lines of this crisis and are putting their support behind this campaign.
Together, we can make a difference. By presenting a united front, we can increase our clout and influence and create the solutions we need to ensure that small businesses grow and prosper. We need the politicians and policy leaders to understand what we already know: When healthcare is fixed for small business, it's fixed for America.
This article is from the April/May 2008 issue of MyBusiness.
