Health Savings Accounts, which were part of the recent Medicare bill, are a welcome bit of reform for entrepreneurs struggling to deal with the escalating costs of health care. However, there is still great concern that health care is the one issue that could put a damper on the current entrepreneurial economic recovery.
As Jack Faris of NFIB correctly asserts, what is also needed is for the Senate to act on the measure already passed by the House that would allow the creation of Association Health Plans. This mechanism would allow small businesses to band together to better afford health care plans.
However, even this measure may only be a band-aid over the mortally wounded health care system. Large corporations are working feverishly to push much of health care onto the government's ledger. Small business folks must be vigilant to assure that they are not left out of these discussions. Health care reform may prove to be a huge competitive disadvantage to small employers during the tight labor markets that will surely result from current long-term demographic trends if some of the models favored by large corporations win the day.
