SmallBusinessNewz

The costs add up to more than money

High costs not only took a toll on the coverage offered to small business employees, but on the health of the owners too.

In case anyone's forgotten, healthcare costs continue to spike higher and higher. That places a burden on small business owners trying to hire employees; someone with any value to a business will want to work someplace that provides coverage.

As Jeff Cornwall noted at The Entrepreneurial Mind, numbers from the American Express OPEN Spring Monitor reflected the price small businesses pay, or in several cases, refuse to pay for health coverage.

Out of OPEN's sample, 34 percent of small businesses offer no health coverage at all. Six percent reduced coverage over the past six months. They also note six percent eliminated coverage in the same time frame.

To keep coverage in place, some firms require employees to cover part of the cost of their insurance. The report said nine percent of small businesses asked staffers to pay more over the past six months.

"The healthcare solutions will not address the underlying problem behind much of this -- the cost of healthcare is a main contributor of inflation," said Cornwall. "If people had to pay for their own healthcare out of pocket and if we tracked the cost of healthcare like we pay attention to the cost of gas, the outrage would be deafening."

The cost also wears on small business operators. 71 percent take their health for granted, while 20 percent cited their health and fitness as what suffered the most as an effect of their work.

It's tough to put a positive spin on potential healthcare solutions. The costs have to go somewhere. There isn't a magic solution, and anyone who claims they can make the expense of healthcare in the US simply go away needs to rethink their opinion.

People should be disappointed that the only real decrease in healthcare costs has come as pharmacies race to match Wal-Mart in discounting hundreds of generic drugs to a $4 price point. Small businesses may cringe at the retail giant's name, but no one can point to anything the government has done that has lowered everyday healthcare costs like this for taxpayers.