Small Business Majority joins senators Durbin, Landrieu, Lincoln and Merkley at press conference on healthcare reform and small business

For Immediate Release: 
Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Washington, DC, July 29, 2009: Small Business Majority's National Policy Director Terry Gardiner joined Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin, Senate Small Business Committee Chair Mary Landrieu, Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions member Jeff Merkley and Senate Finance Committee member Blanche Lincoln at a press conference at the Capitol today to discuss how healthcare reform will ease economic pressure on small businesses.

Maryland small business owner Mark Derbyshire also joined the group to put a human face to the millions of small business owners around the country who struggle with rising healthcare costs and are calling out for reform. Derbyshire has had to decrease the level of coverage he provides to his employees and their families due to dramatically increasing costs.

Senator Landrieu said the primary concern she hears from small business owners is that healthcare costs are spiraling out of control and hurting their firms a sentiment borne out by scientific opinion research Small Business Majority conducted in 14 states over the past few months.

The research shows that small business owners will no longer stand by and watch as skyrocketing healthcare costs slash their bottom lines, Gardiner said.

"They feel a responsibility to provide healthcare to their employees, and are willing to help fix our broken system, he said. They feel it's not only the right thing to do, but necessary for their financial survival."

The press conference came on the heels of a recent study by the White House Council of Economic Advisers, which noted that small businesses pay up to 18 percent more than they should to provide health insurance for their employees because of flaws in the current system. The CEA study cites portions of Small Business Majority's report on the economic impact of healthcare reform on small business in its findings.

Small Business Majority conducts extensive scientific polling and research to determine small business owners perspectives on healthcare reform and brings a nonpartisan voice to policy discussions nationwide. Based in Sausalito, CA, with offices in Washington, DC and New York City, the organization works with small business owners, healthcare policy experts and elected officials nationwide.