Extending Health Coverage

The column by Brown describes his bill that would mandate that every employer provide health insurance for all employees who work more than “half time.” Incredible! As a small businessman, I request equal time.

Do Brown or any other legislator supping at the public trough have any concept of the amount of income small business owners have? Don’t any of those “protectors of the commonweal” do any kind of research before proposing such enormous economic burdens upon the populace? Consider the following:

California law currently requires that all businesses in the state provide workers’ compensation insurance for all their employees. The law mandates that all businesses support state unemployment insurance. Laws are, in effect, requiring that businesses pay an “employee training tax.” There are mandatory liability insurance laws; there are mandatory automobile insurance laws; there are reams and reams of records that must be kept for years under threat of prosecution should they be lost or incorrect. And now Brown has devised yet another plan that “will keep government out of the insurance business.” Baloney! The very contemplation of the law puts government squarely in the insurance business.

I cannot think of any governmentally mandated insurance program that is two-ended. Speaker Brown would require health insurance, but would not mandate lower insurance rates. “The market will determine the rates.” Sure it will. The reasons given for not regulating rates are mostly that government should not become involved in the prices a business could charge for its services/products. But Brown does not hesitate to force higher expenditures on small businesses. Health insurance would cost about $150 to $250 per employee per month, depending upon age. That translates to about $12,000 per year for a 5-employee business like mine. Where does Brown suggest that money come from? Higher product prices? Still smaller profits (so that the proprietors earn less than the employees?) Most small businesses (5 to 7 employees) are not making anywhere near an income commensurate with the risks involved and the demands of the marketplace. Add the cost of health insurance to workers’ comp, SDI, and all the others, and you have to wonder if it’s worth staying in business at all.

It’s time for the California Legislature and Willie Brown to bite the bitter pill of economic reality and recognize that if they want to make it mandatory for us to buy a service or product, then they also must make that service/product affordable. If they cannot guarantee that equality, then they must leave us alone.

TOM FLANAGAN

Los Alamitos