Daily Herald
3/2/2004
Optimism in key sector
By Mike Comerford
Large scale layoffs in the last three years have been headline grabbers but keeping the local economy afloat has been the steady strength of area small
and mid-sized businesses.
An optimism index compiled by the National Federation of Independent Business indicates optimism in the small business sector in the first quarter of this year was higher than any quarter of the go-go 1990s and near an all-time record.
An eyebrow raising 17 percent of small businesses said they plan to hire employees in the next three months. Banks are vying to capture growing smaller companies, 25 percent of whom said this quarter they intend to expand their businesses. That’s near a pace not seen since the mid- 1980s.
Small businesses, according to the National Federation of Independent Business, also say they are re-building their inventories. Historically, taxes have been the biggest worry on the minds of managers at small businesses. But this year, health insurance costs were the single-biggest problem, they told the business association.
“The only fly in the ointment is health insurance,” said Bill Dunkelberg, chief economist, National Federation of Independent Business. “Consequently, about 40 percent of small businesses don’t offer health-care insurance.”
http://www.dailyherald.com/search/main_story.asp?intid=38048121
Comment: Small businesses are thriving, thank goodness. But the escalating cost of health insurance has driven small businesses to look for solutions such as association health plans and consumer-directed products. Although these approaches would provide relief for the business owner, they shift costs to the employee-patient, making essential care unaffordable for many. And close to half of the employers have already abandoned any attempt to provide health care coverage.
It really is time to end our inadequate and wasteful system of employer-sponsored private plans, but not until we have in place a better alternative.
Small businesses should join with us in advocating for a more affordable and
more equitable system of universal social insurance. It’s good for business.
It’s good for employees. And it’s good for all of us.