Small Business and Health Care
When I started my business in the late 1970s, my first employee (and only one for about a year) was, like me, a disabled Veteran with socialized medicine through the VA. So paying for health insurance was something I didn't even think about as I worked to grow the business and get all its elements moving in the right direction. Occasionally an insurance salesman would come in, and if he didn't want to buy a bicycle we didn't need to deal.
But as the business grew and I hired new people, I found myself looking for youngsters covered on their parents' plans, or seniors with Medicare benefits. Paying for a group insurance plan would have been burdensome, and I was using every available dollar to build a stable enterprise. I finally did sign up with a plan, because the workers needed some coverage and employment was the way it always seemed to be done. I ran my store for 10 years, kept 7 to 8 employees, and always felt the crush of the insurance company, wishing instead I could put that money straight into the payroll.
Looking back from today, I wonder how much easier it would have been to start and build a business with every new hire, every long-time worker, covered by universal health care not tied to employment. And it seems every entrepreneur in the country ought to be supporting and fighting for single-payer financing.
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