Small business owners have a lot to worry about these days. With all of the brouhaha over health care reform in the United States, it’s easy to believe that any plan will somehow negatively impact business, costing more money to employers by requiring them to provide health care at a certain level to their employees. However, I don’t think the situation is as dire as many would make it out to be.
Let’s ignore for a second that many businesses of all sizes are complaining that they might have to provide their employees with health care benefits that actually meet the needs of a person living in this country and focus instead on how health care reform can benefit business. I’m referring here to the Small Business CHOICE Act (H.R. 859 http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-859) .
This is an important piece of legislation for small businesses since it provides for two major benefits. The first is that a 65% tax credit would be given to businesses who take advantage of the opportunities this bill would afford, making providing quality health insurance much more affordable and reasonable. The second is much more radical, however.
Several small businesses would be able to pool their resources into voluntary health cooperatives, giving themselves a larger pool of potential employees and, by extension, more negotiating power with insurance companies. This allows smaller businesses to compete with larger companies in terms of benefits and encourages insurance companies to take another look at smaller firms that they would otherwise dismiss as being not worth the effort.
It’s fairly clear from my previous blog posts that I support companies working together to improve how they deal with customers and employees. In this case, businesses are being paid to do exactly that. Small firms could save over 34% per year if this bill were to go into effect, and there would be fewer uninsured Americas as a result.
It’s easy to panic when the government begins to pass laws regarding how businesses should be run, and it’s not their place to do so in most situations. However, it’s important to look at every piece of legislation individually and examine it for its merits. In this case, the Small Business CHOICE Act is a benefit to companies, encourages competition, and will ultimately save you money. It’s solid legislation and not worth the alarm.
