Healthcare on our Entrepreneurial Minds

The healthcare debate, especially as it will impact small business, is all the buzz in Washington and around the country.

Rita Gunther McGrath has a well argued post at her blog about the impact of higher taxes needed to pay for socialized healthcare and the inevitable regulatory burdens that it will create.  Here is an excerpt:

Well, the first predictable consequence is that an awful lot of entrepreneurial energy is going to be spent, not productively, but unproductively, as small business people and those falling into the higher-tax categories spend their time not producing new innovations but figuring out how not to fall into the maws of increased tax and regulatory burdens.  Following right on that as a predictable consequence is that those who are able to do so will do business in such a way that they don’t fall into the higher-taxed categories.  Rather than pay individual rates, small businesses will incorporate and pay the lower 35% corporate rate.  Further, get ready for the new conglomerates - thousands of businesses employing exactly 24.5 people, all interconnectedly doing business with one another rather than falling foul of the over 25 employee stricture.  And with small business growth having led us out of most recessions in the past, get ready for this sector to add jobs far more slowly and with far greater caution than it had previously - a big blow to an economy that desperately needs a vibrant and growing small business sector. 

Thanks to John Wark for passing this post along.

The NFIB has dedicated their monthly Top 9 Questions to the topic of healthcare.  Here is what they serve up this month:

1. HEALTH INSURANCE - REASONS FOR OFFERING EMPLOYEE HEALTH INSURANCE - Please tell me if the following is a major reason, minor reason, or not a reason why your business OFFERS a health insurance plan to your employees?  It helps employee recruitment. (Vol. 3, Iss. 4, Q#5A.)

2. HEALTH INSURANCE - REASONS FOR OFFERING EMPLOYEE HEALTH INSURANCE - Please tell me if the following is a major reason, minor reason, or not a reason why your business OFFERS a health insurance plan to your employees?  Competitors offer it. (Vol. 3, Iss. 4, Q#5G.)

3. HEALTH INSURANCE - REASONS FOR OFFERING EMPLOYEE HEALTH INSURANCE - Please tell me if the following is a major reason, minor reason, or not a reason why your business OFFERS a health insurance plan to your employees?  It's the right thing to do. (Vol. 3, Iss. 4, Q#5H.)

4. OWNER HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE - As the owner of this business, how do you obtain health insurance coverage for yourself?  Do you obtain it:?  (Vol. 3, Iss. 4, Q#1.)

5. HEALTH INSURANCE - CONSULTING EMPLOYEES - What was your general sense of what your employees most wanted in health insurance?  Was their priority:?  (Vol. 7, Iss. 3, Q#12a.)    

6. DROPPING EMPLOYEE HEALTH INSURANCE - Though you don't offer it now, did you offer employee health insurance at any time in the last three years? (Vol. 7, Iss. 3, Q#1b.)

7. HEALTH INSURANCE - REASONS FOR NOT OFFERING EMPLOYEE HEALTH INSURANCE - Please tell me if the following is a major reason, minor reason, or not a reason why your business does NOT offer health insurance to your employees?  Employees prefer wages and/or other benefits. (Vol. 3, Iss. 4, Q#13A.)  

8. HEALTH INSURANCE - REASONS FOR NOT OFFERING EMPLOYEE HEALTH INSURANCE - Please tell me if the following is a major reason, minor reason, or not a reason why your business does NOT offer health insurance to your employees?  Business can't afford it. (Vol. 3, Iss. 4, Q#13F.)    

9. EMPLOYEE HEALTH CONDITIONS AND JOB PERFORMANCE - How many of your current employees do you believe have had their job performance adversely affected by substantial excess weight or a weight-related condition?  (Vol. 4, Iss. 3, Q#13.)

Thanks to Denny Dennis and the folks at the NFIB Research Foundation for their good work on this project.

Finally, check out the Employer Health Benefits, 2008 Annual Survey Kaiser Family Foundation at www.kff.org, which has excellent statistical information on health care with an emphasis on small business.