I remember the day that the Supreme Court upheld Obamacare for the final time (I thought). That day, my spouse, Sara was able to quit her job since she was working just so we could have healthcare for our family.
This was consistent with so many people who stay at their jobs just for the health insurance. In fact, sometimes, the value of their health insurance is more than they get paid!
The promise of Obamacare was that anyone could get “reasonable” health insurance on the exchange without working for a company and getting it on the job. Unfortunately, for many families, the cost ended up being $2,000 a month.
Fast forward over a decade later, my friend Tracy was commenting that in Scotland there are so many small businesses there because they don’t have to worry about health insurance.
I realized what is holding American small businesses back is the lack of a national health care policy.
Too many people are afraid to leave their jobs and start a company because then they won’t have insurance or it will be too expensive in their own business Some also don’t realize that having health insurance may not be enough if they have a severe illness or accident. In fact, two thirds of the people that file for bankruptcy cite medical bills as a a key factor.
Also without national healthcare, small businesses worry about the cost of hiring employees and having to partially bear the medical expense for them. To hire someone, the owner has to pay employees their salary, taxes and health insurance! This is why so many owners try to skirt the rules and hire freelancers.
It is outdated idea that health insurance should be tied to a job. So many people in American society either work for themselves or have several part time gigs to make ends meet. It is time for this way of providing health insurance to end.
In our country, it is absurd that we do not have national healthcare. We are the only rich country in the world that does not.
There should be basic healthcare for all. Then, I support the idea of “Medicare for people that want it” to supplement it. If you work for a large company, government agency or university and like your health insurance, keep it. If not, you should be able to get an inexpensive plan to upgrade the basic care you can get.
If the COVID pandemic has taught us anything, having national healthcare would not only reduce the financial burden on Americans, but would stimulate the economy so more small businesses could launch and thrive. It is time!
Yay! What I have is really “bankruptcy” insurance. It’s not “Health Insurance” because it doesn’t cover my “Health”. It’s for in case i get cancer, I don’t loose my company, my car, my 401 K, my home. That is all it is. Period.
yes- too many of us are under insured and don’t realize what we don’t have until we need it!
1000% agree- I have been saying this for years! An opt-in for Medicare would make small businesses in this country explode with possibilities. The health care portion is HUGE why people don’t leave their employers and start new ventures. Remove that barrier and watch the country grow in wealth. Unfortunately, the health insurance companies have such a tight grip on our economy that dismantling this situation is not very positive.
And small biz could pay the rate the Medicare has negotiated so everyone wins!
As a small business owner I couldn’t agree more. How do I compete w/larger firms or even foreign firms who all have health care on a national basis. This is a constraint on small business. If the gov’t or Republicans who seem to think National health care is the anti Christ let them give up their health care.
It’s for people that don’t have healthcare…if you work for a big Coro, gov or uni, keep your insurance
if you work for a big Corp, gov or uni, keep your insurance
Why not try ideas like introducing more market competition, cutting out the middle men selling pharmaceuticals, and forcing pharmaceutical companies to charge the same prices to Americans as they do in other countries.
If we got the special interest groups out of the process, introduced more competition, and worked on the fraud we could bring down costs and have a much better healthcare system than one run by the government.
While it would have been nice if health insurance coverage were a little cheaper, I am very happy with my coverage, which covered 100% of my cost after my deductible for three procedures performed by very competent physicians in the last five year.
Government never does things better than the private sector. Obama wasted a lot of money trying to get their web site right, and medical costs went up after Obamacare was introduced.