Health Care Reform: A Problem, or The Solution?
By Carol Tice Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by BIZ Experiences contributors are their own.
It's been a crazy couple weeks on the national healthcare reform issue. Angry mobs have turned up to shout at legislators at town hall meetings. Academics have decried the 8 percent payroll tax businesses that businesses would pay if they fail to offer their employees healthcare coverage under the proposed America's Affordable Health Choices Act. Many prominent business associations including the International Franchise Association have urged that legislators let the marketplace solve the problem.
But over in another corner is a growing drumbeat of pro-reform sentiment within the small business community. The Divided We Fail coalition brings together AARP, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the Business Roundtable and the National Federation of Independent Business, with the goal of helping Republicans and Democrats come together to hammer out a middle-ground universal healthcare solution.
Recently, the Center for Economy Policy Research released a study showing that America's small-business and self-employment levels pale when compared with those of other nations -- 19 other countries had higher rates than our puny 7.2%. One of the study's posited reasons for our poor showing: the lack of universal access to healthcare
What do you think -- is our healthcare system part of the problem? Or would the cost of universal healthcare be an even bigger problem?
