WASHINGTON, DC – The House Small Business Committee held a hearing today to discuss the challenges small businesses are facing in providing health care coverage for their employees.  The hearing titled, “Health Care Reform in a Struggling Economy: What’s on the Horizon for Small Business?” consisted of a witness panel with new ideas and suggestions for reforming health care as it relates to small businesses.

“Today we heard straight from the heart how small business owners are struggling to provide health care for their employees,” said Ranking Member Sam Graves (R-MO).  “Providing health care cannot be a paralyzing element in running a small business.  Several consecutive years of double-digit premium increases has hit the business community hard, especially small firms, and we must address this issue.” 

According to the National Association for the Self-Employed, an employee in a firm with fewer than 10 employees pays 18 percent more for health insurance than a worker in a firm with 200 or more employees and, disturbingly, health care cost are still on the rise.  As a result, 60 percent of the uninsured in the U.S. are workers or dependents of workers in small companies.

In his testimony, Mr. Dave Ratner, owner of Dave’s Soda and Pet City in Agawam, MA, said that he is often only able to hire part-time employees because when hiring full time workers he has to face the cost of providing health benefits.  “During this economic crisis, we’ve got to help our small businesses provide jobs for the American people.  If health care coverage hinders opportunities for creating jobs, then we have to find solutions to this problem or increasing jobs will not happen,” responded Graves.

In finding solutions, Graves acknowledged that health care reform should make the market for health insurance more competitive, and result in greater access to affordable care.  Graves supports Association Health Plans, or AHPs, which would permit small business owners to pool together to purchase health insurance at lower rates.  These arrangements could increase negotiating leverage and administrative efficiencies, and help to ensure more consistent benefits among the states.

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