Health care reform for small businesses

By Chris Petersen

It's clear to me that the debate about health care reform has reached a critical moment. A torrent of information is forcing small business owners to sort through the falsehoods and misstatements to discern the truth: Small businesses are sinking under the weight of health care costs, and reform is needed to boost bottom lines and ensure continued success.

Small Business Majority, a national, non-profit small business advocacy group focused on health care reform, recently surveyed 200 small business owners in Iowa. The poll showed that 85 percent of small business owners not offering health insurance say they can't afford to, and of those who do, more than half are struggling to provide it. These statistics are more than numbers on a page to me and so many family farmers and other small business owners I know. They represent the challenges we face in our struggle to balance skyrocketing health care costs with the risk of leaving our employees, our families and ourselves uninsured.

According to the poll, 84 percent of Iowa small business owners want insurance reform, specifically the elimination of pre-existing condition rules; 83 percent support creating a health insurance exchange where small business and individuals can purchase insurance in a competitive, transparent marketplace; and 65 percent support the sharing of responsibility for financing health care among individuals, employers, insurance companies and the government.

Notably, 33 percent of the survey respondents identified themselves as Republican, 27 percent as Democrat and 35 percent as independent. This shows that there is bipartisan support for reform, and those who suggest that pro-business equals anti-reform are wrong.

The status quo is no longer a viable option.

It is a struggle for our family to acquire and keep insurance, let alone afford it. There have been years where we've had to forego insurance entirely. We're now uninsurable in the private sector because of pre-existing conditions. The only provider who will cover us offers a state plan that is very costly and has a high deductible. It's the insurance of last resort. With coverage like this, we're afraid to go to the doctor and run up more bills as we're already tapped out financially. This is catastrophic insurance - not health care.

Fear mongers and naysayers can't be allowed to manipulate us into thinking that reform is out of reach. We must remain committed to seeing this through. The economic health of small businesses and rural America depends on it.

Chris Petersen runs a family farm near Clear Lake and is president of the Iowa Farmers Union.