Report: Small business would gain from reform

NEW YORK – A new Commonwealth Fund report shows small-business owners and employees are among those who’d benefit the most from provisions in some of the current health-reform proposals under consideration on Capitol Hill.
The report, written before President Barack Obama presented his reform priorities to Congress, says provisions to extend health care coverage to everyone and repair the small-group insurance market would alleviate high premium costs, high broker fees, underwriting and a lack of transparency about benefit packages that small-business owners currently face.
Nationwide, only about one quarter of the 39 million Americans who work for businesses with fewer than 50 employees get their health coverage from their employer, the report says. Many get their coverage on their own or through a family member, but 52 percent are uninsured or underinsured, compared with 28 percent of larger firms’ employees.
Those people and their employers, the report says, could benefit from proposed reforms such as health insurance exchanges with standard benefits packages; tax credits for businesses that offer insurance; premium subsidies and expanded Medicaid eligibility.
The report, “Out of Options: Why So Many Workers in Small Businesses Lack Affordable Health Insurance and How Health Care Reform Can Help,” can be downloaded at
www.commonwealthfund.org. •