Saturday's News Is Small Business' Blues (A Halloween Special Report)
Found a relatively disturbing piece in yesterday's New York Times that can be summed up by culling a few clippings from the piece, and juxtaposing it with a scene from the classic John Carpenter film They Live, which is apropos of the season. The article can be found in full here.
I realize that there are several thousand other facets to this story that--when put into perspective--induce vertigo in most of us. And who really wants to deal with such a mess?
Still, it's clear that something here is very broken, and if all of the interested parties can set aside their interest in being considered a priority over all the others--just for a time--perhaps we can fix this so that people get the care they need, and everyone else in the business of giving the care be fairly compensated.
Insurance brokers and benefits consultants say their small business clients are seeing premiums go up an average of about 15 percent for the coming year — double the rate of last year’s increases. That would mean an annual premium that was $4,500 per employee in 2008 and $4,800 this year would rise to $5,500 in 2010.Small businesses, which employ about 40 percent of the private labor force, are a big constituency for both parties.
...some experts say they think the insurance industry, under pressure from Wall Street, is raising premiums to get ahead of any legislative changes that might reduce their profits.
Like the insurers, Republican lawmakers, who portray themselves as champions of small business, argue that the proposed legislation would raise premiums across the board because sick people would be more likely to enroll than healthy people.
