[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 53 (Thursday, May 5, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: May 5, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
               FACES OF THE HEALTH CRISIS: SMALL BUSINESS

  Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, small businesses in America embody much 
of what makes our country strong--the spirit of individualism and 
entrepreneurialism; commitment to one's workers; service to one's 
community; and the strongly held belief that the ``little guy'' can 
still get ahead in America.
  At the same time, small businesses highlight what makes our country's 
health care system so weak--the fear that one illness will wipe out 
everything a small business owner has worked for; the vulnerability of 
employees and small business owners to the whims of an insurer who at a 
moment's notice can drop the firm's coverage; the fact that a small 
business person, as much as he cares about his workers, simply does not 
have the market muscle of his corporate counterparts to bargain for 
affordable coverage.
  Unfortunately, what is wrong with our health care system is 
threatening what is right about our small businesses.
  Health care problems are discouraging some entrepreneurs today from 
taking risks and starting new businesses, just as they are scaring 
workers away from small firms that do not provide insurance.
  Indeed, skyrocketing health care costs are one of the top reasons 
today that small businesses fail. At the same time, 1 out of 3 workers 
fears leaving his or her current job because of concern about losing 
health coverage.
  Nowhere else is fear of losing health insurance permitted to trap 
citizens in jobs they no longer want, or to prevent them from 
establishing small businesses of their own.
  No other nation condemns families to lifetime poverty when their 
children fall ill.
  Only in America is fear of illness still allowed to stalk millions of 
hard working, tax paying citizens.
  Frankly, too many aspects of our health care system are simply un-
American today.


                    reform can help small businesses

  While many opponents of health reform cling to the status quo and 
view change as a threat to small business, reform is actually one of 
the most important steps we can take to ensure that small businesses 
thrive today.
  Providing them with affordable, stable coverage and the same health 
care options as corporations is not only good for workers, it is good 
for the businesses.
  Healthy workers, free of fear of bankruptcy from illness or injury, 
are productive workers. They are workers who will stay with a business. 
They are workers who do not make employment decisions based on who does 
or does not offer insurance coverage.
  They include young, healthy job seekers, formerly on welfare, who are 
free to work without the fear of losing health coverage.
  Health reform can also end the cost shifting that jacks up rates for 
those small businesses that do offer insurance; because they who pay 
for insurance are now mandated to pay for those who do not.
  Really, Mr. President, this is the most inefficient and unfair 
mandate of them all.
  In fact, what I call the ``status quo mandate'' would not get one 
vote if I were to offer this provision on the floor of the Senate 
today. Yet, the status quo is what opponents of reform say they would 
rather accept, requiring those who pay to pay for those who do not pay.


                  doug thompson: sd small businessman

  Over the past year I have heard from hundreds of business owners in 
South Dakota and across the Nation who are suffering under the current 
system and support comprehensive reform.
  They understand the importance of sharing with their workers the 
responsibility for coverage. And they agree that such a requirement, 
along with reforms that control the rate their premiums rise and put 
them on equal footing with corporations, will benefit them and their 
bottom lines.
  One such small businessman is Doug Thompson, who owns and operates a 
meat packing plant in Alcester, SD.
  Doug employs 40 South Dakotans, but he simply cannot afford to 
purchase insurance coverage for them, because his small company does 
not have the market power to negotiate reasonable rates. He finds this 
deeply troubling, on both a personal level and as a business, ``bottom-
line'' issue.
  He is concerned that many of his employees simply cannot afford 
insurance on their own. He is concerned that many of his employees 
simply cannot afford insurance on their own. He share's their 
frustration and fears because he knows them personally--as friends as 
well as employees.
  But he also knows that his inability to provide coverage has a 
negative impact on his business. He speaks with frustration about the 
number of young, unskilled workers he takes on, only to lose them, once 
they are trained, to larger firms that do offer insurance.
  He also notes that workers who are injured off-the-job sometimes 
claim their condition is a workplace injury so that their medical 
expenses can be covered under workers compensation.
  He does not want his workers to be forced to ``game'' the system so 
that they can receive basic medical care. They should have coverage 24 
hours a day, not merely the 8 hours they spend working.
  For all of these reasons, Doug Thompson strongly supports universal 
coverage through a requirement that all employers share in the 
responsibility of financing their workers' insurance. He is ready and 
willing to take on the responsibility, as long as he knows his premiums 
will be affordable and his competitors face the same requirement.
  There are thousands of small businessmen like Doug. They are willing 
to participate, and understand the dire consequences of inaction.


                               conclusion

  Opponents of reform are vocal. We hear them daily. And many of them 
are powerful. Some small businesses have joined in the opposition. But 
many have come forth to join in support of meaningful health reform 
through shared responsibility.
  Thousands of small businesses know that the current system penalizes 
them; it puts them on uneven footing with their competitors.
  They know that the system is unsustainable, and they are looking to 
Congress and the President for leadership. They want some help, They 
want rules that level the playing field, that encourage personal 
responsibility, and that provides them with health security.
  We must ensure that small businesses, the backbone of our economy and 
the engine of its growth, can thrive without the burden of worrying 
about their own or their employees' coverage.
  We owe that much to all of the Americans who have taken enough risks 
in their decisions to start small businesses. They do not need to 
gamble with their own or their workers' health.
  Health security is fundamental to economic security which is only 
achieved through shared responsibility of employees and employers who 
invest in it.
  I yield the floor.

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