Health Care Legislation Must Include Small Businesses, Says Sen. Landrieu

By Aaron Richardson - Talk Radio News Service

Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Chairwoman Mary Landrieu (D-La.) along with Sens. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) held a roundtable discussion Thursday to tackle the issue of what Congress can do to ensure that heath care reform legislation extends to small businesses.

“Every time I talk to small business people they say we want to do something for our folks. Just don’t make it some kind of federal tax or fee that put’s us out of business.” said Wyden.

Small business representatives from all over the U.S. including Amanda Austin, Director of Federal Policy for the Senate with the National Federation of Independent Businesses and Lin Nichols, the Director of Health Policy for the New America Foundation participated in the discussion.

“We have been very pleased with a lot of the discussion around insurance market reform and really bending the overall cost curve to really find savings at the end of the day that can provide real coverage options. But we need to be very careful about the how we approach the smallest firms and the burdens that we put on them at the end of the day.” said Austin.

When asked by Snowe how Congress plans on creating universal health coverage without any sort of mandate, Nichols replied, "I don’t know how you do it without an individual mandate, you have got to require people to do it. Then you have to make it affordable for people who can’t afford it.”

Comments

[John Hichborn]

Here it is in a nutshell: I, like so many in America, am a small business owner (employing 30+) in Midcoast Maine. For four generations and 30 years of my own time, my business has been, at the very least, helping to provide the means for countless individuals to work, live and support a family in the State of Maine. I have invested the vast majority of my waking hours managing the survival of my business. To be sure, I have been blessed with reasonable financial gains for my efforts. On the other hand, I have lived with the constant realization that all of my gains could be gone in a flash at the hands of competition and/or errors in my own judgement. My geographical area has witnessed first hand the over retailing of America. Profits have been shaved as the financial pressures of this along with new and additional taxes and regulations have been bestowed upon us. In fact, all additional costs of doing business have likewise escalated as a percentage of gross sales. Don't misunderstand me please, as I am in this business because I love it and am not sure what other work would satisfy as much. I will tell you, however, that I am very happy that I am nearing the end of my work career and not back in my early 20's about to start this voyage over again. To my employees who I respect and admire so much * I want to help find a way for them to live in a world where they can afford health insurance for themselves and their families. I want them to feel secure within their workplace that they will have a place to go to work for as long as they choose. I want to help them find the comfort of knowing they will be financially sound in their retirement years. What I cannot wish for is absorbing an undue and unjustified share of the financial burder to grant these things. We, in small business, are like the camel unnerved at the thought of the "straw" falling upon us that breaks our backs. The backbone of our Country simply cannot afford much more of the shrinking of our profits. In closing, I urge you all to keep searching for ways to provide all the aforementioned rights (not to be confused with luxuries) that we all deserve; without forcing small businesses to have to close their doors forever.

[W. B. McAllister, CPA]

As a Certified Public Accountant practicing in rural America for almost 30 years, I can clearly define the appropriate path to a positive cash flow for small business while addressing health care and payroll taxes as the primary area of concern. Our society is capable of sacrificing their own luxuries for the benefit of others as is evidenced by the individuals who support our non-profit organizations and our religious entites. It is absolutely unjust to ram costly compliance and zero tolerance rules and regulations down our throats becaue of some greedy and incomptent robbers who cheated their way to fortunes. Rarely are those individuals appropriately dealt with regarding their henous acts.

[M E FitzGerald]

I am troubled by the mindset to impose a mandate for health insurance. In the article above Lin Nichols, Director of Health Policy, states she didn't know, in essence, how else to do it. It has to be a legal requirement. Well, the problem I have with this is the power of the insurance industry as well as the increase of premiums and health coverage costs overall were created first by mandates. When government makes it illegal not to have insurance coverage in support of a single private industry we, the people, have only to fear more of the same. Stop and think just how much insurance is required at every turn of our financial life and then ask yourself if you want to be forced to pay more. A small business would be required to cover employees and the same business owner would be required to pay health coverage for his family. Even "affordable" health care will raise your current costs. It's like taxes, you have to pay insurance premiums. If you don't you may not remain a legal business entity and you may be fined as an individual if you don't pay for mandated health insurance coverage (even if you can't afford "affordable" health care). Something is very wrong with the mindset to mandate individual health care which makes it illegal for you not to support a single private industry within a capitalist market.