SAN FRANCISCO
— As the health care reform
debate plays out on the national
stage, one political group is
releasing a study they hope will
help frame the action.
Nonprofit
political lobby California Public
Interest Research Group will release
a survey Tuesday outlining how
approximately 350 small-business
owners across the nation feel about
health insurance.
Seventy-eight percent of small
businesses interviewed that do not
offer coverage would like to do so,
and 80 percent of those say it’s
cost prohibitive. The study
concluded that small-business owners
generally support health care reform
— if it results in reduced costs —
but currently do not feel they have
a say in the process.
These results echo those found in
other studies of small businesses,
said Scott Hauge, founder and
president of San Francisco-based
Small Business California. That
organization has surveyed hundreds
of small businesses in California
and has consistently discovered that
the cost of health insurance is a
top concern.
Small businesses have seen their
health insurance costs climb by
double-digit percentages each year
for seven years, said Hauge, himself
a small-business owner.
“It’s not sustainable. We are not
going to be able to handle 12 or 14
percent increases each year,” he
said. “Having said that, we do want
to provide health insurance.”
This week, President Barack Obama
plans to advocate health care reform
during several prime-time television
appearances. The precise details of
the plan are currently being
hammered out by Congress.
Meanwhile, the Obama
administration has remained silent
about San Francisco’s attempt at
universal health care, which has
been challenged by the Golden Gate
Restaurant Association. That legal
question is about to be considered
by the U.S. Supreme Court.
kworth@sfexaminer.com
