A small business owner from Seattle told White House officials Friday that providing health insurance for her employees is "a human thing" to do - even as rising healthcare costs and a sour economy are threatening to kill many small business owners' dreams.
"It's important to me that my employees have insurance," the coffee shop owner said Friday during a meeting with Nancy-Ann DeParle, director of the White House Office of Health Reform. The meeting was part of the administration's continuing series of White House Health Care Stakeholder Discussions.
The White House considers small businesses as "the epicenter of America's health insurance crisis," DeParle said.
The coffee shop owner said she faces increases of between 10 percent and 40 percent in health insurance this year and has been absorbing the costs so far. "Small businesses are the engine of our economy, but the cards are stacked against us now. This is absolutely the time to fix healthcare," she said.
The discussion came as the Department of Health and Human Services released a report, "The Bottom Line: Health Reform and Small Business." According to the report, nearly one-third of the uninsured – 13 million people – are employees of firms with less than 100 workers. In the past two years, more than half of small businesses that offered coverage reported switching to plans with higher out-of-pocket costs in response to rising premiums. Another third switched to a plan that covered fewer services, and 12 percent dropped coverage entirely.
Among small businesses that offer coverage, 40 percent report spending more than 10 percent of their payroll on healthcare costs.
Many of those attending Friday's White House discussion are in favor of universal coverage. They said the cost of healthcare is weighing down their businesses, yet they feel a moral obligation to provide insurance to their employees.
Paula Calimafde, chairman of the Small Business Council of America, said her 20,000 members support larger risk pools and a federal reserve board to regulate premiums nationwide.
The council does not favor, however, a federal payer program. "The system does not work as well as it should, but we don't think it needs to be changed," she said.
DeParle encouraged comments from the estimated 20 businesspeople at Friday's meeting. She said the White House is "interested in hearing all of your stories."
The discussion series is part of preparation for a massive health reform effort brewing on Capitol Hill. DeParle said earlier this month she spends more than 75 percent of her time working with Congress on a daily basis to map out a course of action.
One small business owner at Friday's discussion summed up their expectations: "Small businesses want a solution, not a lot of philosophical discussion about it."