Posted by Kristie Arslan - Since health care reform has risen to the top of the priority list
for the Obama Administration and Congress, I spend a lot of my time
trying to insert the self-employed perspective into this debate. I
will tell you that often this is not an easy task. As of late I have
been asked quite a bit about the National Association for the
Self-Employed’s perspective on mandates. Congress has been batting
around the idea of including in a health reform bill an employer
mandate, requiring employers to provide and share in the cost of health
insurance for their employees, and/or an individual mandate, requiring
all individuals to purchase health coverage. This idea received
significant traction when major insurers
announced they would support some key market reforms in exchange for
the inclusion of an individual mandate. This week, the fervor around
mandates was kicked up a notch when President Obama indicated in an open letter
to key Senators that he is amenable, with a few exemptions, to
proposals for “shared responsibility — making every American
responsible for having health insurance coverage, and asking that
employers share in the cost.”
According to a June 2008 study
by the NASE, only 18% of micro-business owners (10 or less employees)
in our nation are currently providing health coverage to their
employees. Thus, the majority of the self-employed are purchasing
health coverage in the individual market. The biggest concern amongst
the self-employed and micro-business is affordability of health
coverage. In addition, micro-business owners with employees also
worry about the administrative burden of managing health care for their
workers. This segment of the business population believe that if
reform proposals don’t include adequate cost containment measures or
financial assistance such as health tax credits yet include a mandate
requiring all to obtain coverage, they will be worse off than they are
now. And with the economy struggling as it is, forcing the
self-employed to purchase coverage or provide coverage to their workers
could mean the difference between staying in business or closing their
doors. Therefore, NASE members do not support mandating coverage at
the present time.