“In the construction industry, we know that job creation comes when businesses have the ability to start up or expand,” says Tom Fisher, President and Business Manager of Wisconsin Laborers District Council (LIUNA). “One of the big obstacles standing in the way of new or growing businesses in today’s economy is our broken health care system.”
Many entrepreneurs who might otherwise be hiring are holding back because they can’t face the uncertainty of going without health insurance coverage for themselves or their families. They are either barred from getting individual coverage entirely due to preexisting conditions, or the cost is simply too high.
Existing companies are also unable to hire new employees and building new facilities, in part because they are spending an ever increasing amount to insure the workers that they already have.
A recent study by the Economic Policy Institute concluded, “The high cost to self-employed workers and small businesses of the private, employer-based health-care system in place in the United States may act as a significant deterrent to small start-up companies, an experience not shared by entrepreneurs in countries with universal access to health care.” (An International Comparison of Small Business Employment, August 2009.)
As part of our fight to create jobs, the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO is urging the Senate to pass health insurance reform with a strong public insurance option to control costs, expand access, and provide stability so that businesses can plan and expand.
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