Report Emphasizes Small Firms' Need for Full Implementation of Healthcare Reform
Statement by John Arensmeyer, founder and CEO of Small Business Majority, regarding a new report showing small business owners and employees are less likely to be insured and have quality health coverage than they were a decade ago
A report analyzing employer-sponsored health insurance, released by the Commonwealth Fund today, reveals a near-10 percent decrease in health insurance offer rates at small firms since 2001, and shows that small business employees are not only less likely than employees of big businesses to be offered and eligible for health insurance, but often receive less generous coverage than employees at larger companies.
This grave situation facing small businesses and their employees is one that needs fixing, and the report out today further underscores that fact. The Affordable Care Act can play an important role in getting small businesses the relief they need from skyrocketing healthcare costs. Provisions of reform like the health insurance exchanges opening in 2014, which our opinion polling found to be widely popular with small business owners, can help deliver that.
The report, Jobs Without Benefits: The Health Insurance Crisis Faced by Small Businesses and Their Workers, found that despite employer-offered coverage being the primary source of health insurance, the share of working-age people who obtain healthcare through employers fell 11 percentage points between 2001 and 2011, from 68 percent to 57 percent. What's more, practically all of that deterioration has taken place among the firms representing our nation's leading job creators' small businesses.
The healthcare system has been unsustainable for small businesses and their employees, and they won't get relief until the new law is fully implemented. It's time to move forward and implement the provisions without delay.
Who is the Small Business Majority?
Small Business Majority is a national small business advocacy organization, founded and run by small business owners, to support America's 28 million small businesses. We conduct extensive opinion and economic research and work with our rapidly growing network of small business owners across the country to ensure their voices are an integral part of the public policy debate. Learn more about us on Wikipedia and follow us on Twitter and Facebook. We also host the Health Coverage Guide, an independent, unbiased source of information for small businesses about health insurance.