Opinion: Small businesses need fixes, not more health-care reform political posturing
Today, members of Congress are attending a health-care summit hosted by President Obama in order to see if a healthcare reform legislative package can be negotiated and passed this year.
Most of the coverage leading up to the gathering has been focused on the political intrigue of the summit: “High stakes gambit” is how the LA Times led its preview of the meeting.
After 20 years of political posturing by both Republicans and Democrats, it is time for lawmakers and the president to find common sense and common ground solutions — and do it now.
As the nation’s primary jobs-creator, small businesses must be a part of the solution to the health-care crisis — which is not really a crisis in health care, but a crisis in health-care affordability. Because the marketing of health-care insurance in the U.S. is based on a model where employers are a part of the insurance distribution channel, part one of any solution must address the ability of small businesses to access affordable coverage.
As a small business owner myself, I can tell you, at some point in the life a small business, decisions start getting made about growth and operations that factor in health-care insurance costs rather than business strategy and opportunity. I can also tell you that “jobs growth” is directly tied to the affordability of health-care insurance.
So, my advice to lawmakers of both parties is this: Fix it. And if you can’t fix it, stop using the issue to gain media coverage or raise PAC contributions.
If either side of this debate believes they can continue scoring political points with their base (including lawmakers who believe small business owners are their base) by “theatrics” rather than actions, they are wrong.
Making access to health-care insurance is critical to small business owners. It is more important than protecting the interests of any one type of insurance company that is headquartered in a lawmaker’s district or state. It is more important than protecting the interests of state-based trade groups that benefit from having health-care coverage requirements mandated at the state level. It is more important than campaign contributions from labor groups or insurance and drug companies. It is more important than having any one type of treatment included in all insurance plans. It is more important than buzzwords and gambits.
It is time for lawmakers to stop listening to “small business lobbyists” and “labor union lobbyists” and “insurance company lobbyists” and “drug company lobbyists” and “political strategists” and on and on.
Just fix it.
And if you can’t fix it all, then fix the parts that can be agreed upon easily.
And if you can’t fix those, then please, consider retirement.
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