WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 1, 2026) – In a new op-ed published in The Well News, Tyler Dever, NFIB Principal of Federal Government Relations, describes how Main Street continues to be plagued by the rising cost of health care. He explains how small business owners are finding it increasingly difficult to offer health benefits and how government intrusion is largely to blame. Dever offers ways that Congress can act to ease the burden for American small business owners and their employees.

Dever writes:

“A big reason affordability keeps slipping out of reach is the growing pile of federal mandates layered onto the health care system. Essential health benefits force small employers to provide 10 specific services, even when small business owners know some of these benefits will never be used by their workforce.

“Community rating rules discourage healthier individuals from enrolling, which drives premiums higher for everyone else. Medical loss ratio requirements reward higher prices instead of real savings and fuel industry consolidation. And restrictions on buying insurance across state lines limit competition and choice. These policies create market distortions that have serious negative consequences for small business owners.”

[…]

“That is why NFIB recently released a health care legislative proposal aimed squarely at protecting small business owners’ ability to offer health benefits to their employees. Small businesses employ more than 40 million people nationwide. Yet according to the Department of Health and Human Services, the percentage of small businesses able to offer health benefits has declined dramatically over the past two dozen years, with only one in three currently able to offer health benefits to their employees.

“The health care problems facing small businesses emphasize the need for Congress to act.”

Read the full op-ed here.