CALPIRG Blog

Everybody knows that health care costs are out of control.  But few get hit as hard as small business owners, who often struggle to be able to cover themselves, much less their employees.

Many of the problems the faced  are the same ones that plague our families: premiums that rise far faster than wages, endless red tape, and a bewildering insurance marketplace where consumers have few choices and even less bargaining power.

It's a crazy situation -- and can you imagine what the world would look like if our small businesses ran the way the health care industry does? 

In a series of press events throughout the state, we did exactly that.  We partnered with small businesses to tell their stories about health care, and demonstrate the problems in the system.

What if, every time you wanted to buy a sandwich or a cup of coffee, you had to fill out a 20-page application?  And if you answered the questions wrong -- say you'd ever had acid reflux -- you couldn't get your coffee at any price.

It's a crazy idea -- but that's exactly how our health care system is set up, with its confusing paperwork and pre-existing condition exclusions.

Say you wanted to buy some flowers -- if florists followed health insurers' lead, what you could buy would depend on who you worked for.  If your employer was a big business, no problem getting a big bouquet.  But if you worked for a small business or yourself, tough luck: you'd pay a lot more, and might be stuck with a couple of week-old flowers held together with a rubber band.

And if California's small businesses jacked up their prices the same way that health insurance premiums have been rising, you could expect to pay $20 for a sandwich -- and it would go up to almost $40 by 2016. 

If any other industry conducted their business this way, they'd go out of business.  But right now, we're stuck putting up with a health care system that's too expensive, too inefficient, and puts consumers last.

The small business owners we worked with in Sacramento and Berkeley are sick of it -- and they're calling for reform.  It's time for Congress to fix the system and help our small businesses get a better deal.

Read our report that documents the challenges facing small business -- and tells the stories of California entrepreneurs grappling with the health care system.