Visitor Comments
Small Business For Socialism?
I am sorry that Mr. Graham finds our poll to be “strange” and the results “bizarre.” It is the only known scientific poll of small business owners and managers across California, and the results speak for themselves. All 506 randomly-selected small business owners who were polled responded in full to the survey (not half as Mr. Graham asserts), resulting in a +/- 4% margin of error. The same cannot be said for surveys of self-selected members of advocacy organizations that are often trotted out as representative samples of California’s 3.2 million small business owners.
The fact of the matter is that small businesses in California are being killed by the status quo. Rates are skyrocketing (a 60% increase between 2003-06, and a 125% increase since 1999), which is why 60% of the respondents in our survey said that they don’t offer health insurance. Sole proprietors are subject to the mercy of the individual insurance market which is why 28% of them are uninsured. When Mr. Graham asks “who’s stopping” small businesses from offering health insurance – the answer is the current capricious system and its overblown costs.
Why is it so hard for Mr. Graham to understand that California’s hard-working small business owners want comprehensive reform NOW. They want to ensure that they and their employees have health insurance – something that is impossible under the current system. And, why is it so “bizarre” to him that they are willing to be part of the solution? The money has to come from somewhere. To the extent that it doesn’t come directly from businesses, it must come from the government (aka taxes) or directly from individuals’ pockets. All that small businesses want is a fair and affordable system that eliminates health care as a barrier to entrepreneurial initiative. There is no magic to the particular form this might take, so long as the result is access for all at affordable prices.
Mr. Graham touts unregulated Association Health Plans (AHP’s) as the answer to all of our problems, and decries regulations requiring the sale of insurance without regard to health status (“guaranteed issue”). We share his belief in the value of statewide pools, but how can the system work when small business owners are rejected, or subject to unaffordable rates, due to their health status. How does that solve the problem of ensuring that health care is no longer a barrier to small business success? All of the reform proposals pending in Sacramento right now make serious attempts to ensure that all small businesses are brought into the system at rates that are affordable and in a manner that eliminates the current fear among California’s entrepreneurs that they will be left uncovered. There is certainly room for discussion and compromise regarding the exact parameters of a solution that satisfies this goal.
Finally, Mr. Graham seems to imply that if we just left the market alone our problems would go away. He fails to recognize that, when it comes to health care, the market has failed miserably. Small businesses should rise or fall based upon innovation, product quality and hard work. Our health care crisis has created an external barrier to free and fair competition that impedes our economic success. As Californians, we pride ourselves for being at the cutting edge of entrepreneurial initiative. How, then, can we tolerate a system that places an often insurmountable barrier on people who want to start and grow small enterprises?
John Arensmeyer
Founder & CEO
Small Business Majority/Small Business for Affordable Health Care
The fact of the matter is that small businesses in California are being killed by the status quo. Rates are skyrocketing (a 60% increase between 2003-06, and a 125% increase since 1999), which is why 60% of the respondents in our survey said that they don’t offer health insurance. Sole proprietors are subject to the mercy of the individual insurance market which is why 28% of them are uninsured. When Mr. Graham asks “who’s stopping” small businesses from offering health insurance – the answer is the current capricious system and its overblown costs.
Why is it so hard for Mr. Graham to understand that California’s hard-working small business owners want comprehensive reform NOW. They want to ensure that they and their employees have health insurance – something that is impossible under the current system. And, why is it so “bizarre” to him that they are willing to be part of the solution? The money has to come from somewhere. To the extent that it doesn’t come directly from businesses, it must come from the government (aka taxes) or directly from individuals’ pockets. All that small businesses want is a fair and affordable system that eliminates health care as a barrier to entrepreneurial initiative. There is no magic to the particular form this might take, so long as the result is access for all at affordable prices.
Mr. Graham touts unregulated Association Health Plans (AHP’s) as the answer to all of our problems, and decries regulations requiring the sale of insurance without regard to health status (“guaranteed issue”). We share his belief in the value of statewide pools, but how can the system work when small business owners are rejected, or subject to unaffordable rates, due to their health status. How does that solve the problem of ensuring that health care is no longer a barrier to small business success? All of the reform proposals pending in Sacramento right now make serious attempts to ensure that all small businesses are brought into the system at rates that are affordable and in a manner that eliminates the current fear among California’s entrepreneurs that they will be left uncovered. There is certainly room for discussion and compromise regarding the exact parameters of a solution that satisfies this goal.
Finally, Mr. Graham seems to imply that if we just left the market alone our problems would go away. He fails to recognize that, when it comes to health care, the market has failed miserably. Small businesses should rise or fall based upon innovation, product quality and hard work. Our health care crisis has created an external barrier to free and fair competition that impedes our economic success. As Californians, we pride ourselves for being at the cutting edge of entrepreneurial initiative. How, then, can we tolerate a system that places an often insurmountable barrier on people who want to start and grow small enterprises?
John Arensmeyer
Founder & CEO
Small Business Majority/Small Business for Affordable Health Care
- posted by John Arensmeyer
- August 29, 2007 @ 2:28 pm
- Permalink
Post Your Comment Here
| SPN Headquarters: 2020 North 14th Street Ste 250 Arlington, VA 22201 Phone: (703) 243-1655 | West Coast Office: PO Box 5208 Richmond, CA 94805 Phone: (510) 965-9700 |
This seems consistent with the California survey.
This was a random survey of three thousand businesses, but it was not exclusive to small businesses.