[Vision2020] More Small Businesses Offering Health Care

[Tom Hansen]

Courtesy of Forbes at:

http://tinyurl.com/Forbes-Article-on-Obamacare

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More Small Businesses Offering Health Care To Employees Thanks To Obamacare

The first statistics are coming in and, to the surprise of a great many,
Obamacare might just be working to bring health care to working Americans
precisely as promised.

The major health insurance companies around the country are reporting a
significant increase in small businesses offering health care benefits to
their employees.

Why?

Because the tax cut created in the new health care reform law providing
small businesses with an incentive to give health benefits to employees is
working.

We certainly did not expect to see this in this economy,” said Gary
Claxton, who oversees an annual survey of employer health plans for the
nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation. “It’s surprising.”

Via Los Angeles Times . . .

http://www.latimes.com/health/healthcare/la-fi-health-coverage-20101227,0,109387,full.story

How significant is the impact? While we won’t have full national numbers
until small businesses file their 2010 tax returns this April, the
anecdotal evidence is as meaningful as it is unexpected.

United Health Group, Inc., the nation’s largest health insurer, added
75,000 new customers working in businesses with fewer than 50 employees.

Coventry Health Care, Inc., a large provider of health insurance to small
businesses, added 115,000 new workers in 2010 representing an 8% jump.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City, the largest health insurer in the
Kansas City, Mo. area, reports an astounding 58% increase in the number of
small businesses purchasing coverage in their area since April, 2010-one
month after the health care reform legislation became law.

“One of the biggest problems in the small-group market is affordability,”
said Ron Rowe, who oversees small-group sales for the Kansas City
operation for Blue Cross Blue Shied. “We looked at the tax credit and
said, ‘this is perfect.”

Rowe went on to say that 38% of the businesses it is signing up had not
offered health benefits before.

Whatever your particular ideology, there is simply no denying that these
statistics are incredibly heartening. However, for those of you who cannot
get past your opposition, even for a moment of universal good news, let’s
break it down.

The primary, most enduring complaint of the opponents of the ACA has been
that the law is deathly bad for small business.

Apparently, small businesses, and their employees, do not agree.

The next argument has been that the PPACA is a job killer.

If these small businesses found the new law to be so onerous, why have so
many of them voluntarily taken advantage of the benefits provided in the
law to give their employees these benefits? They were not mandated to do
so. And to the extent that the coming mandate obligations might figure
into their thinking, would you not imagine they would wait until 2014 to
make a move as the rules do not go into effect until that time?

Of course, there is the nagging banter as to how Obamacare is leading us
down the road to socialism.

Let it go, folks.

Private market insurance companies are experiencing significant growth
because of a tax break provided by the PPACA. I may have missed the day
this was discussed in economics class, but I’m pretty sure this is not a
socialistic result of federal legislation.

When data like this appears, we have the opportunity to really find out
who is talking smack for political benefit and who actually cares about
getting affordable and available health care to America’s workers.
Certainly, there will be elements of the new law that will not work out
exactly as planned. That’s simply reality when it comes to any new piece
of landmark legislation. But if you cannot celebrate what appears to be an
important early success, you really should give some thought as to where
your true interests and intents lie.

If you’re all about beating up on President Obama, you can conveniently
forget this bit of data as if it never really happened. However, if your
interest is to make health care available to more Americans, this should
be a happy day for you – no matter what your ideological beliefs.


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Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to change
and the Realist adjusts his sails."

- Unknown