Health care issues for small business

Health care issues for small business are articulated clearly by the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB).

They refer to the three C's of health care: cost, choice and competition.

When the NFIB refers to competition, I think of a comment by a health practitioner and executive who told me "the government shouldn't be in health care and large insurance companies shouldn't be in health care. The hospitals, physicians, and related services should be the ones in health care."

Cost: We must bring down the cost of insurance for small business and their employees. Currently, they pay 18% more for healthcare than big businesses. Creating an equal playing field starts with improving the small group insurance markets.

Choice: Small business owners and employees need more choices when shopping for insurance plans. Healthcare reform needs to expand the number of providers and affordable plans available to small businesses and their employees.

Competition: Lack of competition makes it easy for insurers and providers to raise their prices. In many states, small business owners have only one or two choices of insurance providers. A recent study shows that in most states, the five largest insurers control 90 percent of the market. We need more competition in the marketplace and access to larger purchasing pools to help lower the costs of insurance for small businesses.

For a related article on the NFIB visit Health mandates will hurt small business

Visit the NFB site at www.nfib.com

Business Productivity and Employee Health

Business productivity factors include employee health care

and that can impact the cash flow of any business.

Making sure executive, middle managers and hourly workers are productive is also a matter of putting care into controlling the cost of employee health. Large corporations will study employee productivity statistics and roll out health and wellness programs for each department head. Those managers become responsible for employee health.

But what about the small business owner who’s stretched in running a productive operation, especially in an office where people are mostly sitting and there’s no industrial work? Are there any health risks?

Dr. Marina Banik, a chiropractor in South Pasadena, California, says there are easy preventive measures to maintain good employee health standards that focus on bio-mechanics.

“One simple step is to drink water,” she says, “and another action is exercise. The discs in the vertebrae need to be hydrated while exercise helps the bones absorb nutrients.”

Caring for employee stress is another preventative step that’s an affordable health option for businesses.

Impossible deadlines, grieving the loss of a loved one, or struggling through a painful divorce will affect posture and that places stress on the vertebrae causing subluxation, the result of spinal bones with improper motion or position affecting nerve communications between the brain and the body.

Chiropractic adjustments can reduce the impact on the nervous system.

Healthy employees are one part of a healthy business operation and that leads to positive cash flow.