I’ve been averaging two to three hours per day trying to keep up with the various proposed national health reforms.  It appears the framework will provided by the Pelosi plan of the House or by either the Kennedy Plan or Baucus Plan of the Senate.  Whichever provides the framework, features of the other two will be used in any final version.

The “uninsured crisis” is a small business crisis.  More than 60% of all uninsureds are in families that have at least one adult working full-time in a small business.  Employees of businesses with 200 or more employees are more than 99% insured.  

What deeply concerns me is that small business is likely to get crushed in this “health reform” process. 

We went for several months with very few mentions of small business as this was debated.  Even when this heated up in recent weeks, small business was little mentioned.  Finally, this week, President Obama started mentioning small business in his speeches about this issue. 

It is obvious to me that the President is very short on knowledge of how this affects small businesses.  So are the key Democrats and Republicans on those three key congressional committees.  Furthermore, this industry comprises one-sixth of the U.S. economy, and the rich players in are watching out for their own derrieres.  They are perfectly willing to throw small businesses, independent medical providers, and insurance agents under the bus.

Don’t expect the drug companies, big hospitals, AMA, unions, or insurance companies to go to bat for us.  Big business will only come out and help us if they become threatened.  As yet they have managed to hide in the background.  Wal-Mart has come out in favor of an employer “pay-or-pay” mandate because it will give them another competitive advantage over small businesses.

The only real voice small business seems to have is the National Federation of Independent Business and its ninety or so association partners. 

TIBA will continue to monitor this situation closely and keep you informed.  If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to call me, Ken Daniel, at 785-232-4590 x205, or on my cell phone, 785-231-9271.