Oregon small business owners
are being crushed by rising health care costs, and feel left out of the current
health care debate in Washington
D.C., according to a new report
released by Oregon State Public Interest Research Group.
"In
this economy, health care costs are an unsustainable strain on Oregon's small
businesses" said OSPIRG advocate Laura Etherton, "Businesses surveyed
for this report, The Small Business
Dilemma, made it clear that they need health reform."
“Small
businesses wants to offer healthcare to its employees, it is important to the
people I work with every day,” said Sean Moriarty, operations manager of
CESSCO, a construction equipment sales and service company in Portland, “But
just last year premiums went up by more than 40 percent. This is clearly
not sustainable and something has to be done now. We can’t wait even two
years.”
U.S.
Senator Jeff Merkley is a key supporter of health care reform and recently
included an amendment to give small businesses more options for affordable
coverage as part of the Senate HELP Committee Bill. “Small businesses are
the lifeblood of Oregon’s
economy,” Merkley said. “As we are working to create jobs and grow our
economy, it is vital that we lower health care costs and expand choices.”
The
report summarizes surveys from 343 small business owners and managers across
the nation, conducted by U.S. PIRG, the federation of state Public Interest
Research Groups. The result, The Small
Business Dilemma, finds that the costs and administrative hassles
associated with offering insurance weigh particularly heavily on small
businesses. According to the report:
•
Small businesses value health insurance as a key to business success because it
allows them to attract better employees.
•
78% of small business owners surveyed who do not offer coverage would like to
do so.
•
80% of those who would like to offer coverage cite the expense of coverage as a
reason why they don’t
OR-Small-Business-Problem-Report-Final.pdf
