This is why health care reform is good for the economy.

 http://tinyurl.com/yb3ge48

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Businesses: Health care costs stymie expansion

That's from a survey of employers for
HealthPartners.

By CHEN MAY YEE, Star Tribune

Last update: February 5, 2010 - 11:25 PM

What's the biggest hurdle to growth for businesses today?

Clue: It's not the economy.

For about 180 employers polled in a survey commissioned
by HealthPartners, health care costs for employees
emerged as the most-common obstacle to business
expansion, more than the economy itself, access to funding
or flaccid consumer demand.

Twenty-one percent of employers cited affordable health
care as an obstacle to expansion, with government
regulations next (12 percent), followed the by economy
(11 percent). Global competition trailed at 5 percent.

The survey was commissioned to try to figure out what
local businesses were thinking at a time when the federal
government was pushing through a huge health reform
bill. That bill is now in limbo, and President Obama has
swung his attention to job creation.

The HealthPartners survey was more proof, if any was
needed, that both issues are joined at the hip.

"Affordable health care is a challenge and Minnesota
businesses, along with businesses around the country, are
struggling," said Andrea Walsh, chief marketing officer at
HealthPartners, the third-biggest health insurer in
Minnesota.

The survey, conducted by the market research firm CJ

Olson in November, included 178 private and public sector
employers of all sizes; 145 were from Minnesota, 33 from
Wisconsin.

Almost two-thirds of companies said health costs jumped
10 percent or more in the past two years, with a quarter
reporting costs surging by more than 20 percent. A tiny
minority -- just 3 percent -- said health costs declined.

Separately, the government said this week that health care
consumed a record 17.3 percent of all spending in the U.S.
economy last year -- roughly $2.5 trillion.

According to the HealthPartners survey, employee lifestyle
was a big reason costs went up. Seventy-one percent of
employers said their workers had poor health habits --
not exercising enough, not eating enough fruits and
vegetables, smoking.

Cost shifting

Employers are resorting to a variety of tactics to lighten
their health costs. About 60 percent are increasing
employees' share of costs through higher premiums, co-
pays or deductibles.

But that is, at best, a temporary measure. Some employers
seemed to realize they've already shifted costs to the point
where employees are avoiding the doctor. Thirty-two
percent of employers said they were interested in reducing
financial barriers for workers who need care.

Employers realize they "simply can't keep moving the
dollars around," Walsh said. HealthPartners plans to use
the results of the survey to tweak its health plan offerings,
including incentives for members to live healthier
lifestyles. Half the employers surveyed were
HealthPartners clients and half were not.

Some companies -- faced with a choice of jobs or health
benefits -- simply choose jobs.

Silva Screenprinting & Distribution in Minneapolis'
Warehouse District makes apparel sold at retailers such as
Wal-Mart and has annual revenue of $1.5 million. The
owners don't provide health insurance but always thought
they would one day.

Three years ago, they called a meeting of all 25 employees.

They were ready to start offering health benefits, they said.
But the trade-off was the loss of three people's jobs. The
employees were asked to vote whether to go ahead.

"It was a unanimous decision," Jacque Lee, a director at the
company, recalled. "Every single person there said we
would rather not have health care and keep our friends
and family employed."

Today, the company has grown to 32 employees. They still
have no health insurance.

Chen May Yee  612-673-7434
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BOB KLAHN bob.klahn{at}sev.org   http://home.toltbbs.com/bobklahn

... Don't tell me you are pro-life if you don't support health care for all.
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