According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, premiums for employers have grown over 120 percent since 1999. This makes it difficult for American businesses to compete with their foreign competitors. It’s also a drag on economic growth. Our present system of private insurance also adds to the cost of retaining and adding employees.

Currently, employers that purchase private insurance for their employees pay higher and higher premiums, in part to finance uncompensated care for the uninsured. A single payer system would end this shifting of health care costs onto those employers, and thus remove the undue burden they now face. In addition, the current situation creates an unlevel playing field in the business world. Employers who provide health benefits are disadvantaged compared to their competitors who don’t provide health benefits. Single payer would end this disadvantage and create a level playing field for all businesses in terms of health care financing.

In fact, the cost of health care for business, especially small businesses, was a major factor in Governor Shumlin’s decision to push for a single payer bill in Vermont. Click here for Wendell Potter’s article on single payer and small
business
.

Click on the following for more information:

National Coalition on Health Care: The Impact of Rising Health Cost on Economy Effects on Business Operations
Oct. 2008